umtffmt* 


BY  flDDIB  RICHMflN  ALTMAN 


BtRMMSMMtnarawi 


fcikarp  of  Che  'theological  ^emmary 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 

•gga»ZD> 

PRESENTED  BY 

J aim  Stuart  Conning ,  D . D . 

BM  107  . A57  1923 
Altman,  Addie  Richman. 

The  Jewish  child's  Bible 
stories 


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The  Jewish  Child’s  Bible  Stories 


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MOSES  AND  THE  TEN  COMMANDMENTS 


THE 


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Jewish  Child’s 
Bible  Stories 

TOLD  IN  SIMPLE  LANGUAGE 


oy 

ADDIE  RICHMAN  ALTMAN 

ILLUSTRATED 


FOURTH  EDITION,  ENLARGED 

NEW  YORK 

BLOCH  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

"The  Jewish  Book  Concern ** 

1923 


Copyright,  1915,  by 
BLOCH  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 


FOREWORD 


In  launching  this  little  volume  upon  the  sea  of  juvenile 
literature,  I  would  say  that  I  have  taught  the  younger  children 
of  Sabbath  and  Mission  Schools  for  many  years,  but  found  very 
few  books  of  Bible  Stories  to  assist  me.  Many  of  these  books 
are  written  by  non-Jews,  non-Jewish  applications  are  made,  and 
non-Jewish  views  either  implied  or  asserted.  Even  when  written 
by  Jews,  the  stories  seem  intended  for  older  children,  and  are 
consequently  beyond  the  mental  capacity  of  the  little  ones. 

I  therefore  began  to  tell  these  stories  in  my  own  way,  with 
but  one  end  in  view — to  bring  the  ethical  side  of  the  Bible  into 
equal  prominence  with  the  religious  thoughts.  The  results  were 
gratifying.  I  drew  no  moral,  but  told  the  stories  in  such  simple 
language  that  very  young  children  could  unconsciously  deduct 
their  own  inferences. 

I  have  made  no  endeavor  in  either  style  or  phraseology  to 
give  this  book  any  value  from  a  purely  literary  standpoint.  On 
the  contrary,  the  language  is  limited  to  a  child’s  vocabulary  and 
adapted  to  the  comprehension  of  a  child,  consequently  many 
repetitions  of  the  same  words  and  of  the  same  thoughts  occur. 
My  sole  aim  has  been  to  make  these  old,  yet  ever  new,  stories  so 
attractive  to  the  children,  that  each  one  will  hold  their  attention 
and  interest  from  beginning  to  end.  Thus  subconsciously,  with 
no  effort  on  the  part  of  the  little  ones,  the  Bible  heroes  and 
heroines  will  become  as  familiar  to  them,  and  as  dear,  as  those 
of  history,  mythology  and  fiction.  The  illustrations  were 
selected  with  particular  care,  for  the  child  absolutely  requires  the 

3 


FOREWORD 


assistance  of  the  physical  eye  to  thoroughly  comprehend  and 
absorb  any  story. 

In  a  few  instances  I  have  taken  the  author’s  privilege  to  em¬ 
phasize  the  ethical  value  at  a  slight  expense  of  accuracy,  but  I 
trust  no  one  will  take  exception  to  this. 

I  also  wish  to  give  credit  for  the  story  of  the  “Charity 
Trumpet”  in  the  outer  court  of  the  Temple  of  Solomon,  to  Mr. 
Louis  Schnabel,  He  was  once  the  superintendent  of  the  Hebrew 
Orphan  Asylum  of  New  York  City,  and  was  a  man  thoroughly 
versed  in  the  tales  of  the  Midrash  and  Talmud. 

Addie  Richman  Altman. 


CONTENTS 

I.  The  Garden.  Adam  and  Eve  -  -  -  7 

II.  Two  Boys.  Cain  and  Abel  -  -  -  13 

III.  The  Great  Rain.  Noah  -  -  -  -  20 

IV.  The  Visit  of  the  Angels.  Abraham  -  27 

V.  The  Ram  on  the  Mountain.  Isaac  -  -  34 

VI.  The  Brothers.  Esau  and  Jacob  41 

VII.  The  Dreamer.  Joseph  -  -  -  -  49 

VIII.  The  Governor  of  Egypt.  Joseph  56 

IX.  The  Baby  in  the  Basket.  Moses  -  -  66 

X.  The  Great  Leader.  Moses  78 

XI.  The  Woman  Judge.  Deborah  -  -  -  88 

XII.  A  Story  of  Love.  Ruth  92 

XIII.  The  Boy  Priest.  Samuel  -  -  -  99 

XIV.  The  Shepherd  King.  David-  -  -  105 

XV.  The  Wise  King.  Solomon  -  -  -  115 

XVI.  The  Man  of  God.  Daniel  -  -  125 

XVII.  The  Story  of  Chanukkah  -  -  -  133 

XVIII.  The  Story  of  Purim  -  -  -  141 

5 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Moses  and  the  Ten  Commandments  -  -  Frontispiece 

Adam  and  Eve  Leave  the  Beautiful  Garden  -  -  8 

Cain  and  Abel  Offering  Sacrifice  -  -  -  -  16 

Noah  Leaving  the  Ark  ------  24 

The  Angels  Promise  a  Child  to  Abraham  -  -  -  30 

The  Sacrifice  of  Isaac  -  -  -  -  -  -  36 

Isaac  Gives  Jacob  his  Blessing  -  -  -  -  44 

Joseph  Sold  by  his  Brothers  -  -  -  -  -  52 

Joseph  Makes  Himself  Known  to  his  Brothers  64 

The  Baby  Boy  Moses  Hidden  in  the  Bulrushes  -  -  68 

Moses  Presenting  the  Ten  Commandments  to  the  People  of 
Israel  --------  84 

Deborah  -  .-  --  --  -88 

Ruth,  throwing  her  arms  around  Naomi,  said:  “Entreat  me 
not  to  leave  thee.”  ------  94 

Hannah  Brings  her  Little  Boy  Samuel  to  Eli  -  -  -  1 00 

David  Playing  the  Harp  before  King  Saul  -  -  -  110 

“Oh,  Great  King,  do  not  cut  my  child  in  two,”  cried  the  real 


mother  to  Solomon 
Daniel  in  the  Den  of  Wild  Lions 
Judas  Maccabeus 
Esther  Before  the  King  - 


-  116 
128 
-  136 
146 


6 


The  Jewish  Child  s  Bible  Stories 

I 

THE  GARDEN 

ADAM  AND  EVE 

Once  upon  a  time,  many,  many  years  ago,  there  was 
a  beautiful  garden,  in  a  land  very  far  away  from  here. 
All  the  nicest  plants  you  can  think  of,  and  trees,  and 
bushes,  and  grass,  grew  in  this  garden,  which  was  just 
like  a  big  park.  There  were  very  tall  trees  covered  with 
bright  green  leaves,  and  other  trees  loaded  with  every 
kind  of  fruit, — apples  and  pears,  peaches  and  plums, 
and  oranges  and  bananas. 

On  the  bushes  there  grew  pineapples  and  berries,  and 
low  down  in  the  grass,  pretty  red  strawberries  peeped 
out  from  under  the  little  leaves.  Then  there  were 
flowers,  oh!  such  lovely  flowers,  that  seemed  to  grow 
everywhere — red  roses,  and  white  ones,  and  yellow  ones, 
and  carnations,  and  violets,  and  pansies,  and  buttercups, 
and  honeysuckle,  and  every  other  kind  of  flower. 

7 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


There  was  also  a  wide  river,  that  flowed  along 
through  the  garden.  The  river  wound  in  and  out  among 
the  trees,  and  if  you  had  been  there,  you  could  have  seen 
hundreds  of  fishes  swimming  in  the  water.  There  were 
big  ones,  and  little  ones,  and  black,  and  white,  and  red, 
and  yellow  ones  too,  that  could  be  seen  in  the  clear, 
cool  water. 

Don’t  you  think  that  was  the  loveliest  garden  you 
ever  heard  about?  And  there  were  other  things  there, 
too.  Birds  were  singing  in  the  trees  and  some  animals 
were  lying  on  the  ground.  Some  of  the  animals  were 
running  or  walking  around,  and  a  man  and  a  woman 
were  there.  The  man’s  name  was  Adam,  and  the 
woman’s  name  was  Eve. 

Do  you  know,  or  can  you  guess  who  made  this  lovely 
garden;  and  all  the  things  in  it?  It  was  the  dear,  good 
God,  who  takes  care  of  us  all — our  Father  in  Heaven. 
He  made  the  garden,  and  the  river,  and  He  made  the 
fish,  and  the  birds,  and  the  animals. 

And  He  gave  everything  to  Adam  and  Eve.  God 
told  Adam  and  Eve  they  could  live  in  the  garden,  God 
also  told  them  they  could  give  names  to  the  trees,  and 
flowers,  and  to  all  the  living  things. 

8 


THE  GARDEN 


Adam  and  Eve  were  as  happy  as  little  children  are 

when  they  get  a  nice  present,  for  all  these  beautiful 
things  in  the  garden  were  a  present  from  God.  But 

God  told  them  there  was  one  fine  tree,  in  the  middle 
of  the  garden,  which  they  must  not  touch. 

And  God  said  to  Adam  and  Eve:  “You  may  eat 
of  all  the  fruit  that  grows  in  the  garden,  except  from 
this  one  tree.  This  tree  is  my  own.  Do  not  forget 
what  I  have  said,  and  do  not  touch  it.” 

Adam  and  Eve  thought  God  was  very  good  to  give 
them  so  many  things.  They  made  up  their  minds  never 
to  touch  God’s  tree,  even  though  they  could  see  the  big 
red  apples  that  were  on  it. 

For  many  days,  Adam  and  Eve  were  kept  pretty 
busy  thinking  about  the  names  they  would  give  to  every¬ 
thing. 

At  last,  all  the  living  things  had  names,  and  the 
flowers  and  trees,  too.  Adam  and  Eve  were  kind  and 
gentle,  and  the  animals  and  birds,  and  even  the  fish, 
loved  Adam  and  Eve,  and  they  would  run,  or  fly,  or 
swim  to  them  whenever  they  were  called,  just  as  your 
dog  or  kitty  comes  to  you. 

The  happy  times  kept  on  until  one  day,  when  some- 

9 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


thing  dreadful  happened.  Adam  had  gone  away  to  the 
other  side  of  the  river,  to  get  some  peaches  that  grew 
over  there.  Eve  was  walking  around  by  herself.  She 
was  near  the  middle  of  the  garden,  very  near  to  God’s 
tree,  the  tree  with  the  ripe,  red  apples.  Eve  stopped 
in  the  road,  looked  at  them  for  a  long  time,  and  then 
said: 

“How  nice  those  apples  look!  Don’t  I  wish  I  could 
have  just  one!” 

Just  at  that  instant  she  heard  a  queer,  hissing  noise 
near  her.  She  looked  around,  and  saw  a  large  snake, 
or  serpent,  coiled  upon  a  bush  near  by.  The  serpent 
looked  right  into  Eve’s  eyes,  and  said: 

“Why  don’t  you  take  one,  then,  if  you  want  it  so 
much?  Nobody  will  see  you.” 

And  then — just  think  of  it!  Eve  was  so  naughty, 
she  picked  an  apple  from  God’s  tree,  and  took  a  bite! 
Wasn’t  she  foolish  to  believe  what  that  snake  said,  to 
believe  that  nobody  saw  her?  We  know  who  saw  her, 
and  who  knew  what  she  had  done,  don’t  we? 

After  Eve  had  taken  a  few  little  bites,  she  began  to 
feel  sorry.  And  she  was  so  ashamed  of  herself  because 
she  had  disobeyed,  that  she  did  not  know  what  to  do. 

10 


THE  GARDEN 


She  was  afraid,  too,  and  ran  quickly  to  look  for  Adam. 
When  she  found  him,  she  told  him  what  she  had  done, 
and  handed  him  the  apple  to  take  some,  too.  Adam 
said: 

“Oh,  Eve,  how  could  you  have  been  so  bad,  when 
God  has  beeen  so  good  to  us?  Now  I  am  sure  we  will 
be  punished.” 

Eve  began  to  cry,  for  she  was  very  unhappy,  just 
like  children  are  when  they  have  been  naughty,  and  are 
afraid  their  papa  will  punish  them. 

“Anyhow,  it  was  not  my  fault,”  said  Eve.  “I  would 
not  have  touched  the  apple,  but  the  old  serpent  told 
me  to,  and  you  can  blame  him.  I  suppose  you  might 
eat  some  of  it  now,  as  long  as  I  did.” 

And  then  Adam  was  just  as  naughty  as  Eve.  He 
ate  some  of  the  apple,  and  afterwards  he  was  just  as 
ashamed  and  as  unhappy  as  Eve.  They  were  both  so 
scared  they  tried  to  hide  themselves.  They  found  a 
place  behind  some  very  thick  and  tall  bushes,  and  they 
thought  God  could  not  find  them.  But  God  sees  every¬ 
thing.  God  knew  what  they  had  done,  and  He  called: 

“Adam  and  Eve,  where  are  you?” 

At  first  they  did  not  answer,  but  when  God  said: 

11 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


“I  see  you,  Adam  and  Eve,”  they  came  out  of  their 
hiding  pi  ace. 

God  was  very  sad  when  He  looked  at  them,  and  He 
said: 

“I  am  very  sorry  to  punish  you,  but  you  did  not  obey 
me.  So  you  must  leave  my  beautiful  garden.  You 
must  go  away  from  here,  and  you  will  have  to  work  to 
get  your  food.  You  can  never  come  back  again,  Adam 
and  Eve,  for  I  cannot  trust  you.” 

Adam  and  Eve  were  very  sorry  then,  because  they 
had  not  obeyed,  and  because  God  could  not  trust  them 
any  more.  They  had  to  leave  the  garden  at  once,  for 
God  sent  an  angel  to  take  them  away.  After  they  were 
gone,  the  angel  stayed  by  the  gate  to  see  that  they  never 
came  back. 

And  God  told  the  wicked  serpent,  who  was  the  cause 
of  all  the  trouble  in  the  garden,  that  he  must  be  punished, 
too.  His  punishment  was  that  he  could  never  walk  like 
the  other  animals.  And  to  this  day,  all  the  serpents  have 
to  crawl  on  the  ground,  instead  of  walking  on  feet. 


12 


II 


TWO  BOYS 

CAIN  AND  ABEL 

After  Adam  and  Eve  left  the  garden  where  they  had 
been  so  happy,  they  wandered  around,  outside  of  it. 
They  were  very  sorry  they  had  been  so  naughty,  but 
that  did  not  help  them.  They  began  to  look  for  some 
place  where  they  could  live.  They  found  a  cave  near 
a  big,  shady,  tree,  and  they  thought  this  would  be  a 
good  house.  They  began  to  work,  and  tried  to  be  happy, 
but  they  often  thought  of  the  lovely  garden,  and  wished 
they  had  obeyed. 

One  day,  a  little  baby  boy  came  to  Adam  and  Eve. 
They  named  him  Cain,  and  when  another  little  fellow 
came  along  later,  they  called  him  Abel.  Cain  was  two 
years  older  than  Abel,  and  he  was  very  different  from 
him.  Cain  had  dark  hair  and  black  eyes,  and  was  a  big, 
strong  baby,  and  Abel  had  light  hair  and  blue  eyes, 
and  was  not  very  strong. 

From  the  time  they  were  both  little  children,  they  were 

13 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


very  different  in  everything  they  did.  Cain  always 
looked  cross,  and  angry,  and  miserable,  and  Abel  was 
cheerful,  and  sweet,  and  happy.  Their  parents  had  to 
work  very  hard,  and  the  little  boys  often  had  to  help 
their  mother. 

When  Eve  would  call  Cain,  and  tell  him  to  bring 
some  wood,  or  clean  up  the  yard,  or  go  somewhere  for 
her,  Cain  would  say  in  a  cross  voice: 

“Oh,  dear!  I  don’t  want  to  work.  I  don’t  like  to 
do  things,’’  and  when  she  made  him  do  it  he  would  get 
very  angry. 

Whenever  she  called  Abel,  he  would  come  running 
and  say  in  a  cheerful  way: 

“Yes,  mother,  dear,  I  will  help  you,”  and  he  would 
go  quickly  and  do  it  well. 

Cain  always  thought  every  one  was  “down  on  him,” 
but  that  was  not  true.  He  was  so  cross  all  the  time  that 
he  only  thought  so.  Haven’t  you  often  heard  children 
say  that?  They  say  some  one  is  “down  on  them,”  but 
it  is  not  very  true.  It  is  nearly  always  the  child’s  own 
fault. 

When  Cain  and  Abel  grew  up,  their  father  said 
to  them  one  day: 


14 


TWO  BOYS 


“You  are  both  big  enough  to  work  all  day  now, 
so  you  must  help  me.  You,  Abel,  are  not  very  strong, 
so  you  can  take  care  of  the  sheep  and  goats.  You  must 
watch  them  all  day,  so  they  don’t  run  away  or  get 
lost.  And  you,  Cain,  can  come  out  into  the  fields  with 
me.  You  can  help  plant  the  corn,  and  take  care  of 
the  fruit  trees.” 

So  the  boys  began  to  work,  and  every  day  they  left 
home  early  in  the  morning.  It  was  just  the  same  as 
before,  for  Cain  was  always  cross  and  ugly,  no  matter 
what  he  had  to  do;  and  Abel  was  happy  as  he  could 
be,  caring  for  the  animals,  whether  it  was  hot  or  cold,  or 
rainy,  or  fine  weather.  And  so  the  years  passed  away. 

One  evening,  in  the  fall  of  the  year,  after  all  the  grain 
and  fruit  were  ripe,  and  when  the  little  baby  lambs  and 
goats  had  grown  quite  large,  Adam  said  to  the  boys: 

“God  has  given  us  fine  weather,  with  plenty  of  sun¬ 
shine  and  plenty  of  rain.  All  the  seeds  that  we  planted, 
came  up  as  we  wanted  them.  The  grain  and  fruit  are 
ripe.  Our  sheep  and  goats  are  well  and  tomorrow  we 
will  show  God  that  we  are  thankful  to  Him  for  all  His 
kindness.  I  want  you  to  get  up  early  tomorrow  morning, 

boys,  and  I  will  show  you  what  to  do.” 

15 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


In  those  times,  there  were  no  temples,  or  churches, 
where  people  prayed  to  God,  and  really  the  people  did 
not  know  how  to  pray.  But  way  down  in  their  hearts, 
they  felt  they  must  show  in  some  way  that  they  loved 
God — so  listen  to  what  they  did.  They  went  into  the 
fields  to  look  for  a  large,  flat  stone.  Then  they  picked 
up  sticks  and  laid  them  back  and  forth  across  the  stone, 
till  they  had  a  big  pile  of  wood. 

They  called  this  stone  with  all  the  sticks  piled  on  it, 
an  altar.  Then  they  brought  the  best  fruit  and  grain 
that  they  had,  and  a  little  goat  or  lamb,  and  laid  all  on 
the  altar,  and  set  fire  to  the  wood.  This  was  called  a 
sacrifice.  The  people  thought  God  would  notice  the 
sweet  smell  of  the  sacrifice,  and  that  He  would  be  glad. 

Cain  and  Abel  each  built  an  altar.  Abel  was  very 
particular  to  have  every  piece  of  wood  quite  dry,  so  it 
would  burn  well.  He  was  very  careful  to  pick  up  sticks 
that  were  straight,  and  he  laid  them  evenly.  But  Cain 
was  cross  and  angry,  like  he  always  was  when  he  had 
to  do  anything.  He  picked  up  all  kinds  of  sticks,  long 
and  short,  and  wet  and  crooked,  and  he  laid  them  very 
carelessly  on  the  stone. 

When  the  two  altars  were  finished,  the  boys  went 

16 


III 

y*?>, 

*  .  At 

CAIN  AND  ABEL  OFFERING  SACRIFICE 


- 


TWO  BOYS 


away  to  get  the  sacrifice.  Abel  took  his  dearest  little 
lambkin  and  baby  goat,  killed  them  and  put  them  on  his 
altar.  Cain  brought  grain  and  fruit,  and  placed  them 
on  his  altar.  Then  they  set  fire  to  the  wood,  and  stood 
near  by  to  watch  it  burn. 

You  should  have  seen  how  differently  those  two  fires 
burned!  On  Abel’s  altar  the  flames  burned  brightly, 
and  the  smoke  rose  up  in  a  tall,  straight  line,  nearly  up 
to  the  clouds.  Abel  was  very  glad,  for  he  thought  to 
himself  that  God  liked  his  sacrifice.  You  see,  Abel  had 
done  everything  carefully,  and  whatever  we  do  care¬ 
fully  turns  out  well. 

But  how  was  it  with  Cain?  There  he  stood,  doubling 
up  his  fists  at  the  fire,  which  was  burning  very  badly. 
He  was  angry  when  he  saw  how  well  Abel’s  fire  burned, 
and  he  thought  that  even  the  fire  was  “down  on  him.’’ 
Wasn’t  that  foolish  when  it  was  all  his  own  fault?  He 
had  brought  wet  wood,  and  was  careless  in  piling  it  up, 
and  so  he  spoiled  his  fire  himself. 

Cain  grew  more  angry  every  minute,  and  soon  went 
away.  Abel  waited  till  his  fire  was  out,  and  then  started 
to  look  for  his  brother.  Abel  was  sorry  to  see  how 
unhappy  Cain  always  made  himself  by  the  foolish 

17 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


things  he  did,  so  when  he  saw  Cain  in  the  next  field  he 
went  towards  him  to  speak  to  him.  But  Cain  would  not 
listen.  He  told  Abel  to  keep  still,  and  then — he  struck 
him! 

Cain  was  so  strong,  he  did  not  know  how  heavy  and 
hard  he  could  strike.  When  he  saw  how  Abel  fell  down 
and  did  not  get  up  again,  he  was  frightened.  He  bent 
down  to  look  into  Abel’s  face,  and  saw  that  he  was 
dead.  Cain  surely  did  not  mean  to  kill  his  own  brother, 
but  he  was  so  angry  he  did  not  know  what  he  was 
doing. 

Just  think  how  Cain  must  have  felt!  He  started  to 
run  away  before  any  one  could  find  out  what  he  had 
done,  or  before  any  one  could  see  him.  But  Cain  forgot 
there  is  Some  One  who  always  sees  us,  and  who  always 
knows  what  we  do.  Cain  heard  a  Voice  calling  to 
him: 

“Cain,  where  is  your  brother  Abel?”  and  Cain  an¬ 
swered  : 

“I  am  not  my  brother’s  keeper.”  (He  meant  that  he 
did  not  have  to  take  care  of  his  brother.) 

Then  God  said:  “I  know  what  you  did  to  your 
brother.  I  know  how  bad  and  wicked  you  are,  and  I 

18 


TWO  BOYS 


will  punish  you.  You  must  go  far  away  from  here,  and 
you  shall  never,  never  have  a  home  again.” 

So  Cain  had  to  leave  his  father  and  mother.  Cain 
lived  to  be  a  very  old  man,  but  he  could  not  forget  what 
he  had  done  to  his  brother,  and  he  was  very  unhappy 
all  his  life. 


Ill 


THE  GREAT  RAIN 

NOAH 

Many,  many  years  passed  away,  and  many  children 
were  born.  They  grew  up,  and  married,  and  had  more 
children,  and  there  was  a  large  number  of  people  in  the 
world.  But  these  people  were  not  very  good,  and  they 
were  very  lazy.  They  did  not  want  to  work,  and  the 
only  thing  they  thought  about  was  to  have  a  good  time. 
They  forgot  all  about  the  good  God,  and  they  often  did 
wicked  things. 

But  there  was  one  man,  named  Noah,  and  his  family, 
who  were  good,  and  loved  God,  and  who  always  tried 
to  do  what  is  right.  God,  who  sees  and  hears  every¬ 
thing,  knew  how  bad  the  other  people  were,  and  God 

felt  He  must  punish  them,  just  like  papas  and  mammas 
punish  their  children  when  they  have  been  naughty. 

God  knew  that  Noah  and  his  family  were  good,  so, 
of  course,  He  would  not  punish  them.  One  day  God 
called  to  Noah  and  said : 


20 


THE  GREAT  RAIN 


“Noah,  all  the  people  around  here  are  very  wicked. 
They  do  so  many  naughty  things,  and  they  make  each 
other  so  unhappy,  that  I  must  punish  them.  But  you, 
Noah,  and  your  family  have  always  been  good,  so  I 
will  not  punish  you.” 

Then  God  told  Noah  that  he  and  his  sons  should 
build  a  very  large  boat  with  a  strong  roof  on  top,  and 
cover  it  with  tar  and  pitch,  so  that  no  water  could  get 
inside.  And  God  said: 

“When  it  is  finished,  I  will  tell  you  what  else  you 
must  do.” 

Noah  called  his  three  sons,  Shem,  Ham  and  Japheth, 
and  the  four  men  went  into  the  forest  together.  They 
took  heavy  axes  with  them,  and  cut  down  some  tall, 
strong  trees.  They  chopped  and  sawed  and  ham¬ 
mered,  day  after  day,  from  morning  till  night.  It  was 
very  hard  work,  but,  after  a  long  time,  the  great  big 
boat  was  finished. 

It  was  not  a  bit  like  the  boats  they  have  now.  This 
one  was  more  like  a  house,  for  it  had  high  walls,  and 
a  slanting  roof,  and  it  was  black  as  ink;  for  it  was 
painted  all  over  with  tar  and  pitch,  so  that  no  water 
could  get  inside.  This  boat  was  called  an  ark,  and  be- 

21 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


cause  Noah  and  his  sons  built  it,  it  was  called  “Noah’s 
Ark.” 

Then  God  spoke  to  Noah  again.  He  said:  “Now 
go  and  get  all  the  food  you  can  find,  for  your  family, 
and  for  all  the  living  things  that  you  must  take  into  the 
ark.  I  am  going  to  send  a  great  rain,”  said  God,  “and 
it  will  rain  so  much  that  all  the  wicked  people  will  be 
washed  away,  and  the  world  will  be  clean  again.” 

Then  God  told  Noah  that  after  he  put  the  food  into 
the  ark,  Noah  should  collect  animals  and  birds  and 
insects,  and  after  they  were  safe  in  the  ark,  the  rain 
would  begin.  Noah  and  his  sons  had  a  great  time 
gathering  all  the  living  things  together,  but  at  last,  there 

they  stood,  two  by  two,  in  long,  long  lines. 

There  were  camels,  elephants,  lions,  bears,  tigers, 
wolves,  foxes,  deer,  goats,  sheep,  donkeys,  oxen,  cows, 
dogs,  horses,  squirrels,  snakes,  and  mice;  ostriches, 
chickens,  eagles,  sparrows,  storks,  ravens,  and  doves; 
frogs,  locusts,  caterpillars,  ants,  flies,  turtles,  bees,  liz¬ 
ards,  and  worms,  and  all  the  other  living  things  you 
can  think  about. 

And  just  try  to  think  how  long  it  took  to  catch  so 

many  animals,  and  to  get  them  all  in  line  ready  to  go 

22 


THE  GREAT  RAIN 


into  the  ark;  for  there  were  two  pairs  of  some  kinds  of 
birds  and  animals  and  insects,  and  seven  pairs  (14)  of 
other  kinds  of  the  living  things.  They  all  marched 
into  the  ark,  into  the  cages  Noah  had  made  for  them, 
and  then  Noah  locked  the  doors. 

Now  God  called  again  to  Noah  and  said:  “It  is 
your  turn  now,  to  go  into  the  ark — you  and  your  fam¬ 
ily,  for  it  will  rain  very  soon.  Do  not  be  afraid,  for 
no  harm  can  come  to  you.  And  when  this  great  rain 
is  over,  I  promise  you,  there  will  never  be  so  much  rain 
again.” 

Noah  and  his  wife,  and  Shem  and  Ham  and  Ja- 
pheth  with  their  wives  (eight  people  in  all),  went  into 
the  ark  and  closed  the  doors  behind  them.  The  rain 
began  to  fall,  and  it  rained  and  rained  and  rained,  for 
forty  days  and  forty  nights.  There  never  was  so  much 
rain,  either  before  or  since  then;  and  it  was  called 
‘The  Flood,”  because  it  washed  away  the  cities,  and 
the  houses,  and  everything  in  them. 

Every  day  Noah  had  looked  out  of  the  window  to 
see  whether  the  rain  was  still  falling,  but  at  last,  one 
morning  as  he  looked  out,  he  saw  there  was  no  more 
rain.  The  ark  had  been  sailing  on  the  water,  for  there 

23 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


had  been  so  much  rain,  that  the  water  covered  all  the 
ground,  and  it  looked  like  an  ocean. 

As  the  water  began  to  dry  up,  the  ark  settled  on  the 
top  of  a  mountain,  and  rested  there.  Noah  opened 
one  of  the  windows,  and  sent  out  a  raven,  to  see  if  the 
ground  was  dry  enough  for  them  to  leave  the  ark.  But 
the  raven  flew  back  and  forth,  back  and  forth  and 
Noah  could  not  tell  much  about  it. 

Noah  waited  seven  days,  and  then  sent  out  a  dove. 
Towards  evening  he  heard  a  soft  “tap-tap-tap”  on  the 
window,  and  when  he  opened  it,  there  was  the  little 
dove,  all  cold  and  wet  and  tired.  There  was  so  much 
water  all  over  the  ground,  that  the  little  dove  found  no 
place  to  rest.  Noah  took  her  into  the  ark  again,  and 
gave  her  something  to  eat. 

Noah  waited  seven  days  more,  and  sent  the  dove 
out  again.  Towards  evening  he  heard  the  same  “tap~ 
tap-tap”  on  the  window.  He  opened  it,  and  saw  the 
little  dove.  And  what  do  you  think?  This  time  she 
carried  a  little  olive  leaf  in  her  mouth!  And  Noah 
knew  that  the  waters  had  dried  up. 

Still  he  waited  seven  days  more,  and  when  he  sent 
the  dove  out  again,  she  did  not  come  back.  Then  Noah 

24 


NOAH  LEAVING  THE  ARK 


THE  GREAT  RAIN 


and  his  sons  removed  the  roof  of  the  ark,  and  were 
happy  to  see  the  sun  again,  and  the  dry  land  and  the 
green  grass. 

God  spoke  to  Noah  again  and  said:  “Go  out  of 
the  ark  now,  you  and  your  wife,  and  your  sons  and 
their  wives,  and  every  living  thing  that  is  in  the  ark.” 

That  was  a  busy  time  for  Noah  and  the  whole  fam¬ 
ily,  to  get  all  those  animals  ready  to  leave,  and  it  was 
a  great  and  happy  procession  that  came  out  of  that  ark. 
How  glad  the  birds  were  to  fly  up  into  the  branches 
of  the  trees !  How  fast  the  animals  ran  into  the  woods ! 
And  the  insects  crept  into  the  grass  and  bushes  so 
quickly,  that  soon  nothing  was  to  be  seen  except  Noah 
and  his  family. 

Noah  told  his  sons  that  they  must  build  an  altar,  and 
bring  a  sacrifice,  to  show  God  that  they  thanked  Him 
for  saving  them  from  drowning.  They  went  into  the 
woods,  and  looked  for  good,  dry  sticks  for  the  altar. 
The  flames  and  smoke  rose  up  into  the  air  in  a  beautiful 
straight  line. 

As  Noah  and  his  sons  looked  up  towards  the  sky  to 
watch  the  smoke,  do  you  know  what  they  saw?  There 
up  in  the  sky  was  the  beautiful  rainbow,  with  its  seven 

25 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


bright  colors:  red,  yellow,  blue,  orange,  green,  violet  and 
indigo. 

Then  Noah  heard  the  voice  of  God  saying: 

“I  will  bless  you  and  your  family,  and  I  promise  never 
to  send  another  flood.  There  will  sometimes  be  heavy 
clouds,  and  there  will  often  be  rainstorms,  but  there  will 
always  be  the  beautiful  rainbow  in  the  sky.  This  will 
show  all  the  world  that  I  remember  what  I  told  Noah. 
The  rairbow  will  be  God’s  ‘Bow  of  Promise’  forever.” 


26 


IV 


THE  VISIT  OF  THE  ANGELS 

ABRAHAM 

Once  upon  a  time,  in  a  country  named  Mamre,  there 
lived  a  very  good  man  whose  name  was  Abraham.  He 
owned  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  acres  of  land,  and  had 
thousands  of  oxen,  and  cows,  and  goats,  and  sheep.  He 
also  had  much  silver  and  gold.  He  kept  many  servants 
to  do  all  his  work  for  him,  and  they  all  lived  in  tents. 
Abraham  and  his  family  lived  in  tents,  too,  because  in 
that  warm  country  tents  were  more  comfortable  than 
houses. 

Abraham  loved  all  the  people  around  him,  and  he 
was  so  kind  to  everybody  that  they  all  loved  him. 
Abraham  loved  God,  and  used  to  pray  to  Him  at  night 
and  in  the  morning.  You  see,  at  this  time,  the  people 
knew  much  more  than  they  did  when  Adam  and  Eve 
were  living,  for  they  had  learned  about  things.  So,  al¬ 
though  they  still  built  altars,  and  brought  sacrifices,  they 

27 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 
also  knew  how  to  pray  to  God  to  thank  Him  for  all  His 

Abraham  was  good  to  every  one,  and  always  tried 
to  do  things  to  make  people  happy  and  contented.  Liv¬ 
ing  in  the  same  house  with  Abraham  was  his  nephew, 
whose  name  was  Lot.  Lot  had  lived  with  his  Uncle 
Abraham  for  many  years,  from  the  time  when  he  was 
a  very  little  boy.  When  he  grew  to  be  a  man,  Abraham 
gave  him  many  sheep  and  goats  and  cows  and  oxen  for 
his  very  own. 

After  about  a  year  there  were  many  little  baby  ani¬ 
mals.  You  cannot  guess  how  much  land  it  took,  and 
how  many  big  fields,  covered  with  grass,  they  had  to 
have  to  give  enough  food  to  all  the  animals  that  belonged 
to  Abraham  and  to  Lot.  Of  course,  where  there  were 
so  many  animals  there  had  to  be  many  men-servants  to 
take  care  of  them  out  in  the  fields.  These  men  often 
quarreled,  and  made  trouble  for  Abraham  and  Lot. 

One  day  Abraham  said  to  Lot : 

“I  do  not  like  all  these  quarrels  between  our  men. 
You  and  I  are  relations,  and  we  love  each  other,  but  our 
servants  quarrel  too  much.  I  own  all  the  land  around 
here,  and  I  want  you  to  choose  part  of  it  for  yourself. 

28 


THE  VISIT  OF  THE  ANGELS 


Then  you  can  take  your  servants  and  your  cattle  away, 
and  that  will  stop  the  quarreling.” 

Abraham  and  Lot  went  up  on  a  high  hill,  and  from 
there  looked  around  upon  the  beautiful  fields  and  valleys. 
Then  Abraham  said: 

“All  this  land  is  mine,  but  you  can  choose  any  part 
you  like,  and  I  will  give  it  to  you  for  a  present.  If  you 
want  the  fields  on  this  side  of  the  hill,  take  them,  and  I 
will  keep  the  others.  Or,  if  you  like  the  fields  on  the 
other  side  better,  take  those,  and  I  will  keep  these.” 

Don’t  you  think  Lot’s  uncle  was  very  kind?  It  all 
belonged  to  Abraham,  and  he  might  have  said: 

“I  am  going  to  keep  the  nicest  fields  for  my  cattle, 
because  they  are  mine,  and  you  can  take  those  way  over 
there.”  But  he  would  not  do  anything  so  selfish,  and  he 
let  Lot  choose  for  himself. 

Lot  looked  around  at  the  beautiful  country.  Then  he 
chose  the  fields  that  he  wanted,  and  told  his  men  to 
take  ail  the  cattle  there.  When  he  came  back  to  Abra¬ 
ham  to  thank  him,  and  to  bid  him  good-bye,  Abraham 
kissed  him,  and  said: 

“Good-bye,  Lot.  I  hope  God  will  take  care  of  you, 
and  I  hope  you  will  be  happy  in  your  new  home.” 

29 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


But  although  Abraham  was  a  very  rich  man  he  was 
often  sad,  because  he  had  no  children.  One  day,  when 
he  was  sitting  at  the  door  of  his  tent,  he  saw  three 
strange  men  coming  along  the  road.  It  was  a  very  warm 
day,  and  the  men  were  hot  and  tired,  and  their  shoes 
were  covered  with  dust. 

Abraham,  who  was  always  kind  and  thoughtful  and 
considerate,  called  to  the  men  to  come  into  his  nice  cool 
tent  and  rest  there.  He  gave  them  seats,  and  then  went 
into  the  next  tent,  which  was  used  for  a  kitchen.  His 
wife,  Sarah,  was  there,  and  he  told  her  to  get  some  food 
for  the  three  tired  men. 

Abraham  then  filled  a  bucket  with  fresh  water,  took 
some  towels,  and  went  back  to  his  own  tent.  He  knelt 
down  on  the  floor  by  the  men,  and  took  off  their  shoes 
and  stockings.  He  also  bathed  their  feet  in  the  nice  cool 
water,  and  the  men  soon  felt  rested  and  comfortable. 
When  the  food  was  ready,  the  men  ate  it,  and  enjoyed 
their  dinner. 

Late  in  the  afternoon,  when  it  was  cool,  the  three 

men  rose  to  go.  Abraham  stood  at  the  door  with  them 

to  say  good-bye.  They  told  Abraham  they  were  not 

travelers,  but  angels  whom  God  had  sent.  The  angels 

30 


THE  ANGELS  PROMISE  A  CHILD  TO  ABRAHAM 


THE  VISIT  OF  THE  ANGELS 


said  God  knew  that  Abraham  s  only  wish  was  to  have 
children,  and  they  promised  that  God  would  give  him 
his  wish.  Then  they  went  away. 

Abraham  had  two  wives,  Sarah  and  Hagar,  and, 
later,  two  little  boys,  Ishmael  and  Isaac.  Ishmael  was 
a  wild,  careless  boy.  He  always  wanted  to  be  in  the* 
woods  or  any  place  outdoors,  and  he  often  worried  his 
father.  He  was  not  really  a  bad  boy,  but  he  was  very 
mischievous,  and  did  many  things  that  annoyed  and 
bothered  people. 

You  will  soon  learn  how  much  trouble  that  made  for 
him  and  for  his  mother,  Hagar.  The  other  boy,  Isaac, 
was  a  good  little  fellow,  who  liked  to  stay  in  the  tent 
with  his  mother,  Sarah,  and  he  loved  to  listen  to  the 
wonderful  stories  his  father  told  him.  Isaac  was  very 
obedient,  too. 

One  day  Abraham  gave  a  party.  Ishmael  was  quite 
a  big  boy,  and  he  knew  how  to  behave  well,  if  he  wanted 
to.  But,  like  many  other  boys  who  try  to  show  off  when 
there  is  company  in  the  house,  Ishmael  did  all  sorts  of 
silly  things  that  he  thought  were  smart  and  funny. 

Abraham  and  Sarah  were  very  much  ashamed  of 
him.  After  the  party  was  over,  Sarah  told  Abraham 

31 


/ 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


that  Ishmael  must  be  punished.  So  the  next  day  Abra¬ 
ham  told  Ishmael  that  he  must  go  away,  and  his  mother, 
Hagar,  would  go  with  him. 

Abraham  was  sorry  to  punish  Ishmael  in  this  way, 
but  Sarah  said  she  would  not  keep  such  a  bad  boy  as 
Ishmael  in  the  same  house  as  her  little  Isaac.  You  see, 
she  was  afraid  Ishmael  would  make  Isaac  just  as  bad 
as  he  was.  So  they  had  to  go  away  from  his  father’s 
house. 

They  wandered  for  many  days,  through  valleys  and 
over  hills,  picking  berries  to  eat,  and  sleeping  in  the  warm 
thick  grass.  At  last  they  came  to  a  desert.  It  was  very 
hot  there,  and  not  a  shady  place  to  be  seen.  Ishmael  was 
so  tired  and  thirsty  he  did  not  know  what  to  do.  He 
lay  down  upon  the  hot  sand  and  did  not  move. 

His  poor  mother,  Hagar,  was  very  unhappy,  for  she 
was  afraid  her  boy  would  die  if  he  did  not  soon  get  a 
drink  of  water.  She  looked  all  around  her,  and,  to  her 
great  joy,  saw  a  little  pool  of  water  not  far  away.  After 
Ishmael  had  a  good  drink,  and  had  washed  his  face  and 
head,  he  felt  better.  By  the  time  the  sun  set,  he  was 
strong  enough  to  walk  again. 

After  a  very  long  journey,  Hagar  and  Ishmael  found 

32 


THE  VISIT  OF  THE  ANGELS 


a  place  near  the  Wilderness  of  Paran,  and  they  remained 
there.  Ishmael  grew  up  to  be  a  very  strong  and  healthy 
man,  and  he  became  a  great  hunter  and  archer.  (An 
archer  is  a  man  who  can  shoot  well  with  bow  and 
arrows.) 


33 


V 


THE  RAM  ON  THE  MOUNTAIN 

ISAAC 

Do  you  know  what  a  ram  is?  It  is  a  very  large  sheep 
with  strong,  curved  horns.  But  before  I  tell  you  anything 
more  about  that,  we  must  go  back  to  the  tents  of  Abra¬ 
ham,  to  see  what  he  and  little  Isaac  have  been  doing. 
Abraham  was  a  very  old  man  now,  but  he  was  just  as 
good  to  every  one  as  he  always  had  been,  and  every¬ 
body  loved  and  trusted  him. 

Abraham  was  the  same  as  a  chief,  that  is,  he  ruled 
over  the  people.  But  they  did  not  call  him  a  chief,  they 
called  him  a  patriarch.  That  is  a  pretty  long  word  for 
you  to  remember;  but  I  think  you  can  if  you  try. 
Pa- tri-arch.  Abraham  never  went  very  far  from  his 
tent  because  he  was  so  old,  but  he  always  sat  by  the 
open  door.  Every  one  could  see  him  sitting  there,  and 
could  come  to  him  when  they  wanted  him  to  help  them. 

One  day,  when  he  was  there  by  the  tent  door,  he 
heard  a  Voice  calling: 


34 


THE  RAM  ON  THE  MOUNTAIN 


“Abraham!”  and  he  answered:  “Here  am  I.” 

“Go  up  to  the  land  of  Moriah,”  said  the  Voice  again. 
“Take  the  boy,  Isaac,  with  you.  Go  up  into  the  moun¬ 
tain,  and  offer  the  boy  as  a  sacrifice.” 

Don’t  you  think  Abraham  must  have  felt  very 
unhappy  to  think  that  he  had  to  take  his  little  boy  for 
a  sacrifice?  Abraham  loved  God  and  had  always 
obeyed  Him,  so  he  knew  he  would  obey  now,  even 
though  he  felt  very  sorry  to  do  so. 

The  next  morning  Abraham  told  two  of  the  men- 
servants  to  gather  wood  for  the  sacrifice.  When  they 
brought  it,  Abraham  tied  a  bundle  of  sticks  together, 
and  fastened  the  bundle  upon  Isaac’s  back.  He  took 
a  large  sharp  knife,  and  some  dried  grass  to  start  the 
fire,  and  they  left  home. 

Little  Isaac  trudged  along  by  his  father’s  side,  often 
singing  to  himself.  He  wondered  where  they  were  go¬ 
ing,  and  what  his  father  would  do.  When  they  had 
come  to  the  foot  of  the  mountain  Abraham  told  the  two 
men  to  wait  there  for  him  until  he  returned.  The  men 
wondered  why  they  had  to  stay  there,  but  they  obeyed. 

As  Isaac  and  his  father  were  climbing  up  the  side 
of  the  mountain,  Isaac  began  to  ask  all  kinds  of  ques- 

35 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


tions,  like  children  always  do,  but  his  father  only  said: 

“Wait,  my  son.  You  will  find  out  when  we  reach 
the  top  of  the  mountain.” 

“Father,”  said  Isaac,  “I  only  want  to  ask  one  ques¬ 
tion  more.  May  I?” 

His  father  nodded  his  head,  and  Isaac  said: 

“I  am  carrying  the  wood  for  the  fire,  and  I  see  your 
knife,  but  where  is  the  sacrifice?” 

“God  will  provide  the  sacrifice,”  answered  Abra¬ 
ham,  but  he  turned  his  head  away,  so  Isaac  should  not 
see  the  tears  in  his  eyes. 

Isaac  asked  no  more  questions,  but  trotted  along  very 
cheerfully  with  his  bundle  of  wood.  When  they  came 
to  a  small  open  space  at  the  top  of  the  mountain  Abra¬ 
ham  took  the  bundle  from  Isaac’s  shoulders.  The  little 
fellow  straightened  himself  up,  and  threw  back  his 
shoulders,  for  the  bundle  was  heavy,  and  it  was  not  a 
very  easy  thing  to  carry  up  to  the  top  of  a  mountain. 

Abraham  found  a  smooth  stone,  and  Isaac  helped  lay 
the  sticks  evenly  and  straight.  Then  Abraham  said  in 
a  low  voice: 

“Isaac,  my  son,  God  has  sent  no  other  sacrifice.  I 
must  put  you  on  the  altar,  for  you  must  be  the  sacrifice.” 

36 


/ 


SACRIFICE  OF  ISAAC 


■ 


5 


THE  RAM  ON  THE  MOUNTAIN 


Isaac  was  very  brave.  He  did  not  scream,  nor  cry, 
nor  beg,  but  was  perfectly  still  while  his  father  tied  him 
down  on  the  altar.  Abraham  stooped  to  pick  up  the 
knife.  At  that  instant  he  heard  God’s  voice  calling 
his  name. 

“Here  am  I,”  answered  Abraham,  and  God  said: 

“Do  not  harm  the  boy.  I  only  wanted  to  see  if  you 
would  obey  me,  and  if  the  boy  would  obey  you.  You 
have  both  obeyed;  but  I  do  not  wish  such  a  sacrifice.” 

As  Abraham  untied  Isaac  and  lifted  him  from  the 
altar,  he  saw  a  big  ram  held  fast  in  some  bushes  by  his 
strong  horns.  Abraham  caught  him,  and  he  and  Isaac 
knew  God  had  sent  the  sacrifice.  God  spoke  again  to 
Abraham  and  said: 

“You  were  obedient,  even  when  you  thought  God 
was  not  just.  You  were  willing  to  give  your  own  dear 
little  boy  as  a  sacrifice.  Therefore  I  will  reward  you 
forever.  I  will  bless  you  and  all  your  people,  and  will 
give  you  health  and  riches  and  happiness.” 

Isaac  loved  his  father  and  mother  very  dearly,  and 
always  tried  to  please  them.  He  grew  up  to  be  a  fine 
young  man,  and,  when  his  father  said  it  was  time  for 

him  to  marry,  he  said  he  was  willing. 

37 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


Abraham  had  an  old  servant  that  he  trusted  with 
everything.  Abraham  spoke  to  him,  and  said  he  must 
go  away  and  find  a  good  wife  for  Isaac. 

“How  can  I  tell  who  will  be  a  good  wife?”  asked  the 
servant. 

“You  will  see  many  young  girls  in  different  places,” 
said  Abraham,  “and  the  one  who  will  be  very  kind 
to  you,  she  will  be  the  wife  for  Isaac.” 

The  man  got  ready  to  go.  He  took  ten  fine  camels, 
and  on  their  backs  he  loaded  many  presents  for  the 
cousins  of  Abraham  who  lived  in  the  nearest  town. 
Abraham  had  given  him  these  presents  to  take  with  him, 
and  they  were  very  handsome  presents,  because  Abra¬ 
ham  was  such  a  rich  man. 

One  afternoon,  a  few  days  later,  the  old  servant  and 
his  camels  came  to  the  gates  of  a  city.  A  large  well  was 
near  the  gate,  and  many  young  girls  stood  around  the 
well.  Each  one  had  a  jug  or  a  pitcher  in  her  hand,  in 
which  to  carry  the  fresh  water  home.  They  were  laugh¬ 
ing  and  talking,  as  one  after  the  other  filled  her  pitcher 
with  water,  and  none  of  them  seemed  to  notice  the  man 
or  his  camels. 

One  girl  had  been  watching  them,  and  she  saw  how 

38 


THE  RAM  ON  THE  MOUNTAIN 


tired  and  dusty  they  all  looked.  She  walked  over  to 
where  the  camels  were  resting  on  the  ground,  and  the 
servant  said: 

“Will  you  please  give  me  a  drink  of  water  out  of 
your  pitcher?” 

“Yes,  indeed,”  she  answered,  “and  I  will  draw 
enough  water  from  the  well  for  all  your  camels  to  drink.” 

She  handed  her  pitcher  to  the  man,  and  then  went 
back  to  the  well.  There  was  a  watering-t rough  near 
the  well,  and  the  girl  filled  it  with  water  for  the  camels. 
When  she  had  finished  drawing  the  water,  the  man 
said: 

“Who  are  you?  What  is  your  name?  And  is  there 
room  in  your  father’s  house  for  me?” 

You  see,  he  asked  those  questions  to  find  out  if  the 
young  girl  was  as  polite  as  she  was  kind.  And  she 
said: 

“I  am  the  daughter  of  Bethuel.  My  name  is  Rebecca 
and  I  am  sure  there  is  room  in  my  father’s  house  for  you, 
and  we  have  a  place  for  your  camels.” 

The  man  saw  she  was  sweet  and  kind  and  polite,  so 
he  was  sure  she  would  be  a  good  wife  for  Isaac.  He 
went  home  with  her,  and  told  her  father  that  Abraham 

39 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


had  sent  him.  He  gave  her  father  many  presents  and 
asked  him  to  let  Rebecca  go  back  with  him  to  be  Isaac’s 
wife.  The  father  was  willing,  and  in  a  few  days  the 
man  took  Rebecca  away. 

While  the  faithful  servant  was  away  on  his  errand, 
Sarah,  Isaac’s  mother,  died.  Isaac  was  very  grieved 
and  sad.  Waiting  at  home,  with  his  father,  he  often 
wondered  if  the  servant  would  bring  a  young  girl  back 
with  him.  Every  day  he  walked  along  the  road  to  the 
city  to  look  if  they  were  coming.  At  last,  one  morning, 
he  saw  a  train  of  camels  far  down  the  road,  and  he  knew 
the  camels  were  his  father’s. 

Isaac  hurried  to  meet  them  and  saw  Rebecca.  She 
was  so  sweet  and  pretty  that  he  loved  her  even  before 
he  spoke  to  her.  The  servant  told  her  this  young  man 
was  Isaac.  Isaac  was  tall  and  handsome,  and  Rebecca 
loved  him,  too.  They  all  went  home  to  Abraham,  who 
was  very  happy  to  see  this  lovely  girl,  and  in  a  few  days 
Isaac  and  Rebecca  were  married. 


40 


VI 


THE  BROTHERS 

ESAU  AND  JACOB 

Isaac  and  Rebecca  had  two  sons  named  Esau  and 
Jacob.  Esau  was  a  boy  who  loved  animals  very  much. 
When  he  was  a  little  boy  he  used  to  play  with  any  ani¬ 
mal  he  could,  a  cat  or  a  dog  or  a  horse  or  a  rabbit.  He 
did  not  care  what  it  was,  as  long  as  it  was  an  animal, 
and  many  times  he  used  to  stay  out  in  the  woods  all  day 
long,  and  forget  about  his  dinner. 

Jacob  was  a  quiet  little  boy,  who  always  wanted  to 
be  around  his  mother.  He  did  not  care  for  animals,  and 
he  never  went  out  with  Esau.  Sometimes  the  two  boys 
played  together,  but  not  very  often.  Isaac  loved  Esau 
best,  but  the  mother  was  fonder  of  Jacob,  although  she 
loved  Esau,  too. 

As  Esau  grew  older  he  became  a  hunter,  and  he  often 
brought  home  the  animals  he  had  killed,  for  the  family 
to  eat.  Esau  knew  just  how  to  clean  the  skins,  and 
how  to  dry  them.  Afterwards  these  skins  were  used  for 

41 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


rugs  on  the  floor,  and  sometimes  he  hung  them  across 
his  back  and  shoulders,  like  a  coat. 

It  pleased  Isaac  to  see  how  much  Esau  could  do, 
and  Esau  liked  to  do  things  for  his  father.  Esau  had 
learned  to  cook  pretty  well,  and  Isaac  always  was  glad 
to  have  Esau  cook  the  fresh  meat  for  him.  Being  out 
in  the  air  all  the  time,  Esau’s  skin  was  rough  and  hard, 

and  his  face  and  hands  were  covered  with  hair. 

Jacob,  who  stayed  in  the  house  so  much,  had  skin  as 

soft  as  a  girl’s,  and  he  had  no  hair  on  his  hands  or  his 
face.  Isaac  could  not  see  very  well,  for  he  was  old, 
and  nearly  blind.  When  his  sons  came  near  him,  he 
used  to  feel  their  hands  and  faces,  and  could  tell  who 
it  was,  whether  it  was  Esau  or  Jacob. 

One  day  Isaac  told  Esau  to  get  some  venison,  (deer’s 
meat),  and  cook  a  nice  meal  for  him.  Isaac  said:  “Get 
the  meat,  Esau,  and  after  I  have  eaten  of  it,  I  will 
give  you  my  blessing.” 

Do  you  know  what  a  blessing  is?  It  is  a  prayer  to 
God  to  ask  Him  to  bless  some  person,  to  care  for,  and 
to  watch  over  that  person.  When  any  body  says:  “God 
bless  you,”  it  means  God  should  take  care  of  you. 

Esau  was  very  glad  to  get  the  venison  for  his  father. 

42 


THE  BROTHERS 


He  wanted  to  please  his  father,  and  he  wanted 
his  father  to  give  him  the  blessing.  He  took  his  bow 
and  arrows,  and  he  hurried  off  into  the  forest  as  quickly 
as  he  could. 

While  Isaac  was  talking  to  Esau,  Rebecca  stood  by 
the  door  of  her  tent,  and  she  heard  what  Isaac  said.  It 
made  her  cross,  because  she  loved  Jacob  best,  and  she 
wanted  Jacob  to  have  the  blessing.  She  stood  there 
thinking  about  it  for  a  little  while,  and  then  went  into 
the  tent  where  Jacob  was. 

She  quickly  told  Jacob  all  about  it,  and  then  said: 
“I  am  going  to  cook  a  fine  dinner  for  your  father.  When 
it  is  ready,  you  shall  take  it  to  him,  and  get  his  blessing.” 

“Oh!  I  cannot  do  that,”  said  Jacob,  “because  my 
father  will  know  I  am  Jacob.  Esau  is  a  hairy  man,  and 
I  am  a  smooth  man.  My  father  will  feel  my  hands  and 
my  face,  and  he  will  know  I  am  Jacob.” 

“Never  mind,”  said  his  mother,  “I  will  look  out  for 
that.  You  just  go  and  bring  in  some  of  the  dried  goat¬ 
skins,  and  I  will  make  you  hairy.” 

While  Jacob  was  gone,  Rebecca  cooked  some  meat 
just  as  Isaac  liked  it  most,  and  made  some  little  cakes. 
When  Jacob  came  back  with  the  goat  skins,  she  tied 

43 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


them  around  his  shoulders  and  his  head.  She  also 
pinned  pieces  of  the  skin  over  his  hands.  Then  she  gave 
him  the  food  for  his  father. 

Jacob  really  did  not  want  to  deceive  the  poor  old  man, 
who  was  so  nearly  blind,  but  his  mother  said  he  must  do 
as  she  told  him.  She  said  Esau  was  so  wild,  he  would 
not  really  care  for  the  blessing,  and  she  wanted  Jacob 
to  have  it.  Jacob  took  the  tray  with  the  dinner  on  it,  and 
went  to  his  father.  When  Isaac  heard  footsteps  outside, 
he  asked: 

“Is  it  you,  my  son  Esau?  How  did  you  get  back  here 
so  soon?”  And  Jacob  said: 

“I  found  a  deer  near  here,  and  you  know,  father,  it 
does  not  take  very  long  to  cook  venison.” 

“Come  close  to  me,  my  son,”  said  Isaac.  “I  want 
to  know  if  you  are  Esau;”  and  when  he  felt  the  hairy 
hands  and  neck,  he  said : 

“Your  hands  feel  like  Esau’s,  but  your  voice  is 
Jacob’s.” 

The  father  took  the  food,  and  after  he  finished  eating, 
he  said:  “Come  nearer  to  me,  my  son,  and  I  will  bless 
you.  I  am  old,  and  I  cannot  live  much  longer,  but  I 

want  to  bless  you  before  I  die.” 

44 


ISAAC  GIVES  JACOB  HIS  BLESSING 


■ 


THE  BROTHERS 


Jacob  knelt  down  at  his  father’s  side,  and  bowed  his 
head.  Isaac  placed  his  two  hands  on  his  son’s  head,  and 
gave  him  the  same  blessing  that  God  had  given  to  Abra¬ 
ham  long  before,  and  which  God  had  promised  to  his 
children  and  children’s  children. 

Isaac  told  Jacob  he  would,  some  day,  be  the  father 
of  many  sons  and  of  a  great  nation  of  people.  Then  he 
asked  God  to  bless  Jacob  with  health  and  wisdom  and 
wealth;  and  Isaac  kissed  him  on  his  head.  Jacob  rose 
from  his  knees,  and  stood  by  his  father.  He  thanked 
his  father  and  then  went  to  tell  his  mother. 

While  Jacob  was  in  the  tent  with  his  father,  Esau  had 
come  back  with  a  large  deer  he  had  shot.  He  cut  a  slice 
of  meat  from  the  tenderest  part  of  the  deer,  and  prepared 
it  with  a  nice  sauce  that  his  father  liked.  When  it  was 
ready,  he  carried  the  dish  into  his  father’s  tent,  and 
called  out  cheerily : 

“Here  I  am,  father,  and  here  is  some  fine  venison  I 
have  brought  you.” 

“Who  are  you?”  asked  poor  old  Isaac  in  a  trembling 
voice.  “Who  are  you?  I  cannot  see.  Come  nearer.” 

Esau  knelt  down  before  his  father,  very  close  to  him, 
and  said:  “Don’t  you  know  me,  father?  I  am  Esau, 

45 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


and  here  is  the  meat  you  wished  for.  Eat  it,  I  beg  of 
you,  and  then  give  me  your  blessing.” 

Isaac  was  very  sad  when  he  heard  his  son  beg  for  the 
blessing,  and  he  said  slowly: 

“Oh,  my  son  Esau,  I  have  given  the  blessing  to  your 
brother  Jacob.  He  brought  me  food,  and  I  ate  it.  I 
thought  he  was  you,  and  I  blessed  him  and  his  children 
forever.” 

“But,  father,”  cried  Esau,  “have  you  only  one  bless- 
ing  to  give?  Can  you  not  bless  me,  too?” 

Then  Isaac  rose  from  his  chair,  and  laying  his  hand 
on  Esau’s  head,  answered: 

“The  blessing  that  should  have  been  yours,  I  gave 
to  Jacob,  and  it  can  never  be  taken  away  from  him.  All 
I  can  say  to  you  is,  that  you  will  always  be  a  good  hunter, 
and  you  will  be  a  rich  man  and  a  great  man.”  Esau 
then  left  his  father’s  tent,  but  he  was  very  angry  at 
Jacob. 

Rebecca  had  heard  all  that  Isaac  said  to  Esau,  and 
she  told  Jacob  he  must  go  away  for  awhile,  until  Esau 
forgot  all  about  the  blessing;  and  then  Jacob  could  come 
back  again.  So  Jacob  went,  but  he  was  not  very  happy 
when  he  thought  of  what  had  happened.  He  knew  how 

46 


THE  BROTHERS 


wrong  it  was  to  deceive  his  kind  father,  and  to  take  away 
the  blessing  from  his  brother.  And  he  was  very  sorry 
he  had  been  so  wicked. 

One  night  he  lay  down  to  sleep  in  a  field.  He  had 
no  covering  and  no  pillow,  so  he  laid  his  head  on  a  big 
flat  stone.  He  slept,  and  had  a  queer  dream.  He 
dreamed  he  saw  a  ladder  that  reached  way  up  to  the 
sky,  and  that  many  angels  were  climbing  up  and  down 
the  ladder.  And  he  dreamed  that  God  stood  on  the 
top  of  the  ladder.  And  he  heard  God  say  to  him: 
“Jacob,  I  will  bless  you  with  many  blessings.” 

When  Jacob  woke  the  next  morning,  he  remembered 
his  beautiful  dream,  and  he  thought  he  had  been  in 
heaven  with  God.  Jacob  said  the  field  was  holy  ground. 
He  took  the  stone  that  had  been  his  pillow,  stood  it  up 
on  the  spot  where  he  dreamed  he  had  seen  the  ladder, 
and  called  the  place  “Beth-el,”  which  means  “God’s 
House.” 

Then  he  knelt  down  by  the  stone,  and  prayed  to  God. 
He  said  he  was  very  sorry  for  what  he  had  done  to  his 
father  and  his  brother,  and  he  asked  God  to  forgive  him 
for  the  wrong  he  had  done.  He  promised  God  he 

would  always  be  a  good  man.  And  he  kept  his  word. 

47 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


Long  afterward  Jacob  and  Esau  met  again.  They 
talked  together  a  long  while,  they  gave  each  other 
many  handsome  presents,  and  they  became  good  friends. 


48 


VII 


THE  DREAMER 

JOSEPH 

Jacob  went  to  a  beautiful  land  called  Canaan,  and 
stayed  there.  He  married,  and  had  thirteen  children, 
twelve  boys  and  one  girl.  He  owned  much  land  and 
cattle,  and  people  said  he  was  a  very  rich  man.  Jacob 
loved  all  his  children,  but  he  loved  Joseph  more  than 
the  others,  because  Joseph  was  such  a  gentle  and  kind 
boy. 

The  brothers  of  Joseph  did  not  like  him  very  much; 
I  suppose  because  the  father  loved  him  most.  Joseph 
liked  to  lie  under  the  trees,  on  the  nice  soft  grass,  and 
liked  to  listen  to  the  singing  of  the  birds.  He  loved  to 
watch  the  pretty,  white  clouds  floating  in  the  air  nearly 
up  to  the  sky,  and  he  would  keep  very  quiet,  and  dream 
away  the  time. 

His  brothers,  just  to  tease  him,  called  him  the  dreamer. 
One  day,  Jacob  gave  Joseph  a  fine,  new  coat.  That 
made  his  brothers  angry,  for  they  thought  Joseph  did 

49 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD  S  BIBLE  STORIES 


not  need  another  coat.  The  brothers  used  to  go  away 
from  home  every  morning  to  take  the  cattle  to  the  fields. 

Once  Jacob  called  Joseph,  and  said:  “Go  and  find 
your  brothers.  I  told  them  to  go  to  the  East  fields.  See 
if  they  are  there,  and  what  they  are  doing,  and  come 
back  soon  to  tell  me.” 

Joseph  went  to  look  for  them,  but  when  he  came  to 
the  East  fields,  no  one  was  there  except  an  old  man. 
Joseph  asked  him  whether  he  had  seen  his  brothers.  The 
old  man  said  they  had  not  been  near  the  East  fields  at 
all,  but  he  had  seen  them  go  way  over  to  the  West 
fields.  Joseph  hurried  to  the  other  fields. 

One  of  the  brothers  saw  him  coming,  and  said  to  the 
others:  “Here  comes  that  dreamer  Joseph,  and  I  won¬ 
der  what  he  wants.  When  he  goes  back  home,  he  will 
tell  our  father  we  did  not  go  to  the  East  fields,  and  then 
our  father  will  not  trust  us  any  more.  Let  us  kill  Joseph, 
and  tell  father  a  wild  beast  rushed  out  of  the  forest,  and 
ate  the  boy.’* 

“Oh  no,”  said  Reuben,  the  oldest  brother.  “Don’t 
let  us  do  that.  That  would  be  wicked  and  cruel.  Let 
us  put  him  into  that  deep  pit  over  there,  and  he  cannot 
get  out.” 


50 


THE  DREAMER 


Do  you  know  why  Reuben  said  this?  Because  he 
did  not  want  his  little  brother  to  be  hurt,  and  because 
he  had  made  up  his  mind  that  after  the  brothers  went 
home,  he  would  come  back  alone,  and  take  Joseph  out 
of  the  pit.  Then  Reuben  went  away  to  look  for  some 
sheep  that  had  run  off. 

When  Joseph  came,  the  brothers  caught  hold  of  him 
and  took  off  his  new  coat.  They  let  him  down  into  the 
pit,  and  left  him  there.  After  they  had  climbed  up  the 
side  of  the  pit,  they  killed  a  goat  and  dipped  Joseph’s 
coat  in  the  blood.  They  did  this,  so  that  they  could 
show  it  to  their  father,  and  tell  him  a  wild  beast  had 
killed  Joseph. 

While  they  were  busy  with  the  coat,  they  noticed  a 
company  of  men  and  a  train  of  camels  coming  along 
the  road.  One  of  the  brothers  said:  “These  men  are 
strangers  to  us.  This  is  the  road  that  goes  into  Egypt. 
If  they  are  going  into  Egypt,  let  us  ask  them  to  buy 
Joseph  and  take  him  along  with  them.  That  will  be  a 
good  way  to  get  rid  of  him  altogether.” 

When  the  men  came  near,  the  brothers  asked  the 
leader  if  they  would  like  to  buy  a  young  boy  who  could 
work  for  them,  and  they  said  yes.  They  went  down 

51 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


into  the  pit  with  ropes  and  pulled  Joseph  out.  The 
leader  paid  them  twenty  pieces  of  silver,  and  took  Joseph 
with  him. 

Towards  evening,  after  the  brothers  had  gone  home 
with  their  flocks,  Reuben  went  down  into  the  pit  to  get 
his  brother  Joseph,  but  he  was  not  there.  Reuben  cried 
and  sobbed,  and  ran  after  his  brothers. 

“Oh,  where  is  my  brother  Joseph?”  he  cried.  “I 
could  not  find  him  in  the  pit.  What  did  you  do  with 
him?” 

They  showed  Reuben  the  bloody  coat,  and  said  they 
were  taking  it  home  to  show  their  father  what  had 
happened. 

As  soon  as  Jacob  saw  them,  he  said:  “Where  is  my 
boy — my  Joseph?  I  sent  him  to  the  fields  after  you. 
Tell  me,  where  is  my  boy?” 

After  they  had  showed  him  the  coat,  poor  Jacob 
said:  “This  is  his  coat;  and  some  wild  animal  must 
have  jumped  on  him  and  killed  my  Joseph.” 

He  cried  and  cried,  and  Reuben  tried  to  comfort  him. 
But  he  would  not  be  comforted,  and  he  said  he  would 
always  mourn  for  his  son. 

Joseph  was  taken  to  Egypt  and  a  man,  whose  name 

52 


JOSEPH  SOLD  BY  HIS  BROTHERS 


. 


THE  DREAMER 


was  Potiphar,  bought  him  from  the  men  who  had  him. 

Joseph  had  a  good  sweet  face  and  a  gentle  manner 
and  kind  ways,  and  Potiphar  was  very  fond  of  him. 
He  was  good  to  Joseph,  for  he  saw  how  hard  Joseph 
tried  to  please  everybody.  Once  when  Potiphar  had  to 
go  into  the  country  to  attend  to  some  business,  he  told 
Joseph  to  do  many  things  while  he  was  gone. 

Potiphar  had  a  wife,  who  often  told  Joseph  to  do 
things  for  her,  and  he  always  did  them  when  he  could. 
But  one  day,  she  told  him  to  do  a  very  foolish  thing. 
Joseph  knew  it  would  be  wrong  if  he  did  it,  so  he  told 
her  he  could  not.  This  made  her  very  angry,  and  when 
Potiphar  came  home  she  told  him  that  Joseph  would 
not  obey  her,  and  that  he  should  put  Joseph  in  prison. 
And  Potiphar  did  what  his  wife  told  him. 

But  God  had  always  watched  over  Joseph.  God 
knew  that  Joseph  had  done  what  was  right  and  honor¬ 
able,  so,  even  in  the  dark  prison,  God  watched  over  him, 
too.  All  the  men  belonging  to  the  prison  were  kind  to 
Joseph,  and  before  long,  they  took  him  out  of  the  dark 
cell  where  he  was.  They  let  Joseph  help  them  in  their 
work,  and  he  made  friends  with  every  one. 

Just  about  this  time,  the  butler  who  served  the  king, 

53 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


did  something  wrong,  and  was  put  into  the  prison  where 
Joseph  was.  The  butler  remained  in  prison  many 
months.  One  morning  as  Joseph  was  going  around 
doing  his  work,  he  noticed  how  sad  the  butler  looked. 

Joseph,  who  was  always  kind  to  everyone,  asked 
what  it  was  that  worried  the  butler.  The  butler  said 
he  had  dreamed  a  queer  dream,  and  he  asked  Joseph 
if  he  could  tell  him  what  the  dream  meant.  Joseph 
told  him  to  tell  the  dream,  and  maybe  he  could  tell  him 
the  meaning. 

The  butler  said:  “I  dreamed  I  saw  a  grape-vine 
with  three  branches  on  it.  I  saw  the  green  leaves  and 
the  ripe  purple  grapes.  I  held  the  cup  of  King  Pharaoh 
in  my  hand.  I  pressed  the  juice  of  the  grapes  into  the 
cup,  and  then  I  handed  it  to  the  king  to  drink.” 

“I  can  easily  tell  you  what  that  dream  means,”  said 
Joseph.  “The  three  branches  are  three  days,  and  in 
three  days  from  now,  King  Pharaoh  will  send  for  you 
to  leave  this  prison.  The  king  will  set  you  free,  and 
you  will  be  his  butler  again,  and  you  will  hand  him  his 
cup  of  wine  like  you  always  did.” 

The  butler  was  very  happy,  and  said  to  Joseph:  “I 
thank  you  for  telling  me  what  my  dream  means.  Is 

54 


THE  DREAMER 


there  anything  I  can  do  for  you  after  I  leave  this  prison?” 

“Yes,”  answered  Joseph.  “When  you  are  back  in 
the  king’s  palace,  will  you  ask  King  Pharaoh  to  set  me 
free?  I  never  did  any  wrong  to  anybody,  and  I  do  not 
belong  in  Egypt  at  all.” 

Everything  happened  just  as  Joseph  said.  Three 
days  later  was  the  king’s  birthday,  and  he  made  a  feast 
for  all  his  servants.  He  sent  to  prison  for  the  butler,  and 
let  him  work  in  the  palace  just  as  he  used  to  do.  But  the 
butler  forgot  all  about  poor  Joseph  in  prison,  and  he  did 
not  tell  the  king  anything  about  what  was  going  on  there. 


55 


VIII 


THE  GOVERNOR  OF  EGYPT 

JOSEPH 

Two  years  after  Joseph  was  put  in  prison,  King 
Pharaoh  had  a  strange  dream.  The  king  dreamed  he 
stood  by  the  side  of  a  river.  He  saw  seven  cows  come 
up  out  of  the  water  to  eat  the  grass  that  was  growing  on 
the  banks  of  the  river.  These  cows  were  fat  and 
healthy  cows,  and  while  they  were  eating  the  grass, 
seven  other  cows  came  up  out  of  the  water;  but  these 
cows  were  thin  and  sick.  For  a  minute,  the  sick  cows 
looked  at  the  well  ones.  Then  the  thin  and  sick  cows 
ate  up  the  fat  and  healthy  ones. 

Pharaoh  woke  up,  and  wondered  what  the  dream 
meant.  While  he  was  thinking  about  it,  he  fell  asleep 
again,  and  had  another  dream.  This  time,  the  king 
dreamed  he  was  standing  by  a  field  of  corn,  and  on  a 
tall  stalk,  he  saw  seven  ears  of  corn.  They  were  large 
ears  full  of  corn.  But  just  below  them,  on  the  same 
stalk,  there  were  seven  very  thin  ears  with  very  little 

56 


THE  GOVERNOR  OF  EGYPT 


com  on  them.  While  the  king  was  looking  at  them, 
the  seven  thin  ears  swallowed  the  seven  full  ears. 
Then  the  king  woke  up;  and  he  was  very  much  worried 
by  the  dreams. 

In  those  times,  there  were  wise  men  in  Egypt  who 
sometimes  understood  dreams,  and  could  tell  what  the 
dreams  meant.  King  Pharaoh  sent  his  servants  to  bring 
all  the  wise  men  to  the  palace,  so  that  he  could  tell  them 
his  dreams.  They  came  very  quickly,  but  none  of  them 
knew  what  the  dreams  meant. 

Then  the  butler  remembered  Joseph,  and  said  to 
Pharaoh:  “Great  king,  I  am  ashamed  to  say  that  I 
forgot  something,  but  I  will  tell  you  now.  When  I 
Was  in  prison  long  ago,  a  young  man  was  there  who  was 
very  kind  to  all  the  prisoners.  I  know  he  can  tell  the 
meaning  of  dreams.” 

The  king  sent  to  the  prison  for  Joseph.  But  before 
Joseph  went  to  the  palace  he  shaved  himself.  Then 
he  asked  for  clean  clothes,  which  they  gave  him. 
When  Joseph  was  brought  to  the  king,  King  Pharaoh 
said:  “My  servants  say  that  you  understand  dreams, 
and  can  tell  what  any  dream  means.  Is  this  true?” 

Joseph  answered  in  a  low  tone:  “I  cannot  always  do 

57 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


that.  Sometimes  God  puts  the  thoughts  in  my  mind. 
If  you  tell  me  your  dreams,  perhaps  God  will  help  me.” 

Pharaoh  told  his  two  dreams,  and  Joseph  listened 
quietly.  Then  he  said:  “These  two  dreams  are  really 
only  one  dream,  because  they  both  mean  the  same  thing. 
God  sent  these  dreams  to  you,  so  that  you  may  know 
what  will  soon  happen  in  your  land.” 

Joseph  explained  the  dreams  in  this  way:  “The  seven 
fat  cows  and  the  seven  full  ears  of  corn  mean  seven  years 
of  plenty;  plenty  of  cattle,  plenty  of  flocks  and  herds, 
plenty  of  grain,  plenty  of  water,  plenty  of  everything. 
The  seven  thin  cows  and  the  thin  ears  of  corn  mean 
seven  years  of  famine,  when  there  will  be  very  little  to 
eat.  After  the  seven  good  years  of  plenty,  there  will  be 
seven  years  when  the  grain  will  not  grow.  The  animals 
will  have  very  little  to  eat,  and  many  will  die,  and  the 
people  will  not  have  much  food  either.” 

Pharaoh  did  not  speak  for  a  few  minutes,  then  he 
said:  “I  think  I  understand  the  dreams  now.  Tell  me, 
Joseph,  do  you  know  what  I  can  do  to  stop  the  bad  years 
from  coming?  What  can  I  do,  so  that  my  people  will 
have  enough  to  eat,  and  what  can  be  done  to  get  food 
for  the  cattle  and  sheep?” 


58 


THE  GOVERNOR  OF  EGYPT 


“God  sent  you  these  dreams,”  said  Joseph,  “so  you 
can  be  ready  when  the  bad  years  of  famine  come.  First 
of  all,  you  must  choose  a  good  and  wise  man  to  be  the 
Governor  of  Egypt.  Then  you  must  let  the  people  all 
know  that  you  trust  this  man.  And  the  people  must 
obey  the  governor  and  do  all  he  says.” 

“Yes,”  said  the  king,  “and  I  know  a  man  who  will 
make  a  good  governor.” 

“Then,”  said  Joseph,  “this  is  what  the  governor  must 
do.  He  must  order  the  men  in  every  city  in  Egypt  to 
build  store-houses, — places  to  pack  away  grain  and 
other  food.  The  seven  years  of  plenty  will  begin  now, 
so  there  is  time  enough  to  do  everything.  After  the 
store-houses  are  built,  the  people  must  carry  food  there. 
The  governor  must  lock  up  the  store-houses  so  that  no 
one  can  touch  the  food,  for  it  must  be  saved,  and  when 
the  seven  bad  years  of  famine  come,  there  will  be  enough 
to  eat  in  Egypt.” 

King  Pharaoh  had  listened  to  all  Joseph  said,  and 
he  could  tell  that  Joseph  was  a  very  wise  man.  So  he 
said: 

“Joseph,  I  will  make  you  the  governor  of  Egypt,  and 
you  can  order  everything  done  just  as  you  think  best.” 

59 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


1  -  —  1  ■"  -----  ■  —  — -  -■  -  .  .  i  .  ■  ■ 

The  king  took  a  beautiful  gold  ring  from  his  own 
finger  and  gave  it  to  Joseph.  He  put  a  long  gold  chain 
around  Joseph’s  neck  and  sent  for  fine  new  clothes  for 
Joseph  to  wear. 

So  you  see  what  happened  to  Joseph.  Because  he 
had  always  been  so  kind  to  everyone,  everyone  loved 
him.  Because  he  loved  God  and  trusted  in  Him,  the 
boy  who  had  been  sold  by  his  brothers  to  be  a  servant, 
became  the  governor  of  the  great  land  of  Egypt. 

During  the  next  seven  years,  the  years  of  plenty  in 
Egypt,  Joseph  was  very  busy.  He  watched  the  work¬ 
men  build  the  great  store-houses  and  he  made  all  the 
farmers  bring  a  certain  amount  of  grain  to  put  into  them. 
So,  when  the  good  years  had  passed  away,  there  was 
enough  food  in  the  many  store-houses  in  Egypt  to  last 
for  the  seven  bad  years  that  were  coming. 

But  in  the  other  lands  around  Egypt,  no  one  had  tried 
to  save  up,  and  they  all  had  to  go  to  Joseph,  the  gover¬ 
nor  of  Egypt,  to  buy  what  they  needed.  Down  in  the 
land  of  Canaan  where  Jacob  and  his  family  lived,  there 
was  hardly  any  food  for  the  cattle  to  eat. 

Jacob  told  his  sons  they  must  go  to  Egypt  to  buy  com. 
They  did  not  want  to  go.  Do  you  know  why?  Just  be- 

60 


THE  GOVERNOR  OF  EGYPT 


cause  they  remembered  how  they  had  sold  their  brother 
to  men  who  took  him  to  Egypt.  They  were  afraid  they 
would  meet  Joseph  and  they  thought  Joseph  would  do 
them  some  harm.  But  they  did  not  know  that  Joseph 
was  the  governor  of  Egypt. 

Jacob  said  they  must  go,  and  gave  them  money  to  buy 
corn.  Each  one  of  the  brothers  took  a  big  bag  to  carry 
back  the  corn.  When  they  came  to  Egypt,  they  went  to 
the  store-house  where  Joseph  was  selling  grain.  They 
saw  Joseph  standing  there,  and  bowed  down  to  him  be¬ 
cause  he  was  the  governor.  They  did  not  know  he  was 
their  brother,  for  when  they  sold  him  he  was  a  boy,  and 
now  he  was  a  man. 

It  was  thirteen  years  since  Joseph  was  sold,  but  as 
soon  as  he  saw  his  brothers,  he  knew  them  again.  He 
made  believe  he  did  not  know  them,  and  spoke  very 
roughly  to  them.  He  said:  “What  do  all  you  men  want 
here?” 

“We  came  from  the  land  of  Canaan  to  buy  corn,” 
answered  the  brothers. 

“I  do  not  think  so,”  said  Joseph.  “I  think  you  are 
spies,  and  that  you  came  here  to  see  what  is  going  on 
in  Egypt.” 


61 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


“No,  great  governor,’’  said  Reuben,  “we  are  not 
spies.  We  are  brothers,  and  we  came  to  buy  corn.  We 
do  not  want  to  know  what  is  going  on  in  Egypt.” 

They  then  told  Joseph  that  there  were  twelve  brothers 
in  their  family,  but  now,  one  was  dead.  (You  see,  they 
thought  Joseph  was  dead.)  Reuben  said  their  young¬ 
est  brother  was  at  home.  When  Joseph  said  they  must 
bring  their  youngest  brother  to  see  him,  Reuben  said: 
“Our  father  will  not  let  him  come.  He  loves  our 
brother,  Benjamin,  so  much,  that  he  always  wants  him 
at  home.” 

“Tell  your  father,”  said  Joseph,  “that  Benjamin 
must  come.  And  I  will  keep  one  of  you  here  until  he 
does  come.” 

He  pointed  to  one  of  the  brothers  and  two  officers 
took  him  away.  Joseph  ordered  his  servants  to  fill  the 
bags  with  corn,  and  sent  his  brothers  to  bring  Benjamin 
back.  The  brothers,  all  except  the  one  Joseph  had  kept 
with  him,  went  home.  They  were  afraid  to  tell  their 
father  that  the  governor  of  Egypt  wished  to  see  Ben¬ 
jamin,  but  they  had  to. 

“No,  no,”  said  the  father.  “I  cannot  let  my  Ben¬ 
jamin  go  to  Egypt.  Many  years  ago,  I  sent  Joseph  out 

62 


THE  GOVERNOR  OF  EGYPT 


into  the  fields  to  you,  and  he  never  came  back.  If  any- 
thing  should  happen  to  Benjamin,  so  that  he  cannot  come 
back  to  me,  I  would  die  of  sorrow.” 

But  after  sometime,  when  all  the  corn  was  used  up, 
Reuben  told  his  father  they  must  have  more  food  for 
the  cattle.  He  said  Egypt  was  the  only  place  where 
they  could  buy  corn.  He  begged  so  long  for  Benjamin 
to  go  with  them,  that  at  last,  the  father  consented. 

When  they  came  to  Egypt,  to  the  governor’s  house, 
Joseph  said:  “How  is  your  father?  I  hope  he  is  well.” 

“Yes,”  said  Reuben,  “he  is  quite  well.” 

“Is  this  your  brother,  Benjamin?”  asked  Joseph,  as 
he  looked  at  the  pretty  boy  standing  by  Reuben. 

“This  is  our  brother,  Benjamin,”  said  Reuben,  “and 
he  is  our  father’s  darling.” 

Joseph  did  not  answer,  but  rushed  out  of  the  room. 
He  was  so  glad  to  see  his  little  brother,  that  he  began 
to  cry,  and  he  did  not  want  any  one  to  see  him  cry. 
When  Joseph  came  back  into  the  room,  he  sent  all  the 
servants  away.  Then  he  said  to  his  brothers:  “It  is  true, 
I  am  the  governor  of  Egypt,  but  I  am  also  your  brother, 
Joseph,  the  boy  you  sold  so  many  years  ago.” 

The  brothers  all  looked  so  scared,  that  Joseph  said 

63 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


quickly:  “You  need  not  be  afraid,  I  will  not  harm  you, 
for  I  forgave  you  long  ago.  That  was  God’s  way  to 
make  me  a  great  man,  and  now  I  am  the  greatest  man 
in  Egypt,  except  the  king.  I  am  rich  and  I  can  do  what¬ 
ever  I  like,  and  I  want  all  of  you  to  come  here  to  live. 
Now  go  home  and  bring  our  father  to  me.” 

Joseph  gave  them  corn,  and  sent  them  away.  They 
went  back  to  Canaan  and  told  their  father,  Jacob,  all 
that  had  happened.  When  they  said  Joseph  was  alive, 
and  was  the  good,  wise  governor,  Jacob  folded  his  hands 
in  prayer  to  God,  and  thanked  Him  for  His  goodness. 

Reuben  said  Joseph  wanted  the  whole  family  to  come 
to  Egypt  and  stay  there.  That  he  wanted  them  to  bring 
all  their  cattle  and  flocks  and  herds  and  Joseph  would 
give  them  all  the  land  they  needed.  So  one  day,  they 
all  started  from  Canaan  to  go  to  Egypt. 

It  was  just  like  a  parade.  There  was  old  father 
Jacob  and  his  ten  sons — for  Joseph  and  Benjamin  were 

in  Egypt.  Then  there  were  all  the  wives  and  children 
and  grandchildren,  and  the  servants  and  the  flocks  and 
herds.  The  older  people  rode  in  wagons  that  Joseph 
had  sent  from  Egypt,  the  children  rode  on  camels,  and 
the  strong  men  walked. 


64 


JOSEPH  MAKES  HIMSELF  KNOWN  TO  HIS  BROTHERS 


THE  GOVERNOR  OF  EGYPT 


Pharaoh  was  a  good  king,  and  he  loved  Joseph.  He 
was  very  glad  that  Joseph’s  family  was  coming  to 
Egypt,  and  he  told  Joseph  to  choose  the  best  land  there 
was  for  his  father  and  brothers.  Just  before  they  all 
reached  the  city  where  Joseph  lived,  they  saw  Joseph 
coming  to  meet  them  in  his  chariot. 

Jacob  and  Joseph  were  very,  very  glad  to  see  each 
other  again,  as  you  can  imagine,  and  Jacob  thanked 
God  for  giving  him  such  happiness.  They  all  found 
homes  near  Joseph’s  palace,  and  Joseph  was  always 
the  good  true  son  and  brother  to  them,  and  he  remained 
the  good  and  wise  governor  all  his  life. 


65 


IX 


THE  BABY  IN  THE  BASKET 

MOSES 

Many  years  after  Joseph’s  death,  there  was  another 
king  in  Egypt  whose  name  was  Pharaoh,  too.  But  this 
Pharaoh  was  a  rough  and  cruel  man  and  a  bad  king, 
while  the  other  Pharaoh,  who  lived  when  Joseph  was 
the  governor,  was  a  kind  man  and  a  good  king. 

During  these  years  many  children  were  born,  and 
grew  up,  and  got  married,  and  they  had  children;  and 
when  this  Pharaoh  was  made  king,  there  were  thous¬ 
ands  and  thousands  of  Hebrews  in  the  land.  The  people 
of  Egypt  called  the  Hebrews,  Israelites,  and  I  will  tell 
you  why.  After  old  father  Jacob  had  twelve  sons,  God 
said  his  name  should  be  Israel,  and  that  all  his  people 
should  be  called  Israelites. 

When  these  Israelites  first  came  into  Egypt,  they  were 
very  happy,  because  King  Pharaoh,  Joseph’s  friend,  was 
very  good  to  them.  But  the  new  king  was  very  cruel. 
He  said  that  they  must  work  for  him,  and  be  his  slaves. 

66 


THE  BABY  IN  THE  BASKET 


Slaves  are  people  who  have  to  work  from  morning  until 
night  every  day,  and  who  never  get  any  money  for  their 
work.  The  masters  send  food  to  them,  give  them  ugly 
little  cabins  to  live  in,  and  give  them  poor  clothes  to 
wear.  And  that  is  all  they  have. 

One  day  King  Pharaoh  said:  “There  are  too  many 
Israelites  in  Egypt,  and  we  must  do  something  to  get 
rid  of  them.  I  will  make  a  new  law.  It  is  that  every 
baby  boy  that  is  born  to  these  people  must  be  killed 
right  away.”  Don’t  you  think  he  was  a  cruel  king? 
And  just  think  how  unhappy  that  law  made  those  poor 
people — to  have  to  kill  their  dear  little  baby  boys ! 

There  was  one  woman  who  said  she  would  not  have 
her  baby  killed,  so  she  hid  him  for  three  months.  Then 
she  was  afraid  that  some  of  the  king’s  soldiers  would 
find  him.  So  she  made  a  basket  of  bulrushes,  which 

is  a  thick,  heavy  grass  that  grows  along  the  edges  of  a 
lake  or  a  river.  She  made  it  in  the  shape  of  a  little 

boat,  and  covered  it  with  tar,  so  the  water  could  not 
get  inside.  She  put  some  soft  cotton  in  the  bottom  of 
the  little  boat,  and  laid  her  little  boy  on  the  cotton. 
She  then  set  the  basket  in  the  weeds  that  were  down 
by  the  river,  and  told  her  daughter  Miriam  to  watch 

67 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


it.  The  girl  hid  behind  some  trees  to  see  what  would 
happen  to  the  baby.  Soon  she  saw  the  lovely  princess, 
the  daughter  of  King  Pharaoh,  coming  down  to  the 
bank  of  the  river. 

The  princess  was  walking  slowly  along  with  some 
of  her  maidens  when  she  saw  the  little  basket,  and  she 
sent  one  of  the  girls  to  bring  it  to  her.  When  she  lifted 
off  the  cover,  she  saw  that  sweet  little  baby  boy.  He 
looked  at  her  with  his  big  black  eyes,  and  smiled  up 
into  her  face.  The  princess  said:  “What  a  darling 
baby!  He  must  belong  to  some  Israelite  woman,  and 
I  know  she  put  him  in  this  basket  to  save  his  life.  He 
is  too  sweet  to  die,  and  I  will  take  him  home  with  me 
to  keep  for  my  very  own.”  Just  then  she  saw  Miriam. 
She  motioned  for  her  to  come  near,  and  said:  “I  have 
just  taken  this  little  boy  out  of  the  water.  I  will  keep 
him  for  my  own  and  he  shall  live  with  me  in  the  palace. 
Can  you  find  some  woman  to  be  his  nurse?” 

You  can  imagine  how  glad  Miriam  was,  and  she  told 
the  princess  she  would  bring  a  nurse  to  the  palace  in  a 
few  minutes.  She  ran  home  as  fast  as  she  could,  and 
told  her  mother  to  go  to  the  palace  at  once.  The  mother 
was  very  happy,  for  now  she  could  stay  with  her  own 

68 


THE  BABY  BOY  MOSES  HIDDEN 
IN  THE  BULRUSHES 


THE  BABY  IN  THE  BASKET 


little  baby.  She  went  quickly  to  the  palace,  and  the 
princess  said:  “I  want  you  to  nurse  this  little  boy.  I 
just  found  him  out  in  the  river,  and  I  have  named  him 
Moses.  Moses  means  ‘taken  out  of  the  water,’  and 
I  took  the  child  out  of  the  water.  Now  be  sure  to 
take  good  care  of  the  little  fellow.” 

You  may  be  sure  that  the  nurse,  who  was  his  own 
mother,  took  good  care  of  the  little  Moses  and  was 
very  kind  to  him.  Moses  grew  up  to  be  a  fine  boy, 
and  he  loved  the  princess  and  his  mother-nurse  very 
dearly.  When  he  was  old  enough,  the  princess  got 
good  teachers  for  him,  and  he  learned  everything  that 
a  prince  should  know.  He  loved  to  study,  and  to  learn 
about  things,  and  when  he  grew  to  be  a  man,  he  was 
very  wise. 

All  the  people  of  Egypt,  the  Egyptians  and  the 
Israelites,  all  loved  Moses  very  much.  He  was  gentle 
and  kind  to  everyone,  and  he  was  very  good  to  animals. 
But,  although  Moses  lived  in  the  king’s  palace,  and  was 
treated  like  a  prince  by  everybody,  and  although  he  had 
everything  he  wished  for,  he  was  always  sad.  I  won¬ 
der  if  you  can  guess  why. 

He  knew  he  was  an  Israelite  and  he  was  sad  because 

69 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


he  had  everything  to  make  him  comfortable  and  happy, 
and  his  people  had  nothing  at  all  but  hard  work.  You 
see,  his  mother  had  told  him  many  stories  when  he 
was  little.  They  were  all  about  his  own  people,  and  he 
loved  them.  It  made  him  sad  that  he  could  net  do 
anything  for  them  to  help  them  in  some  way. 

One  day  he  went  out  for  a  walk.  He  passed  a  place 
where  a  number  of  men  were  building  a  new  house. 
The  workmen  were  all  Israelites  and  the  man  who 
watched  them  at  work  was  an  Egyptian.  One  of  the 
Israelites  was  carrying  a  heavy  load  of  bricks.  He 
stumbled  over  a  loose  board  in  the  floor  and  the  bricks 
fell  down.  The  Egyptian  took  his  whip  and  struck  the 
poor  Israelite.  This  made  Moses  so  angry  that  he 
struck  the  Egyptian. 

Of  course,  it  was  very  wrong  for  Moses  to  do  that, 
but  I  suppose  he  could  not  help  it  when  he  saw  how 
rough  the  man  was  and  how  cruel,  too.  Afterwards 
Moses  thought  how  foolish  he  had  been,  for  he  could 
not  go  around  and  strike  every  Egyptian  who  was  cruel 
to  an  Israelite.  So  he  thought  that  just  now  the  best 
thing  he  could  do  would  be  to  go  away  from  Egypt 
till  he  could  find  some  way  to  help  his  people. 

70 


THE  BABY  IN  THE  BASKET 


He  went  far  away  into  the  country  and  stopped  at 
a  farm  house.  He  asked  the  farmer  if  he  could  give 
him  some  work  to  do  on  the  farm.  Just  think  of  that! 
Why,  he  might  have  remained  in  the  palace  and  be  a 
prince  and  have  anything  he  wanted  there!  But  Moses 
said  as  long  as  the  other  Israelites  had  to  work,  he 
would  work,  too.  So  he  began  by  taking  care  of  sheep. 

One  evening,  after  he  had  brought  the  sheep  home 
and  counted  them  to  see  if  all  were  there,  he  noticed 
that  one  little  lamb  was  gone.  Moses  was  cold  and 
tired  and  hungry,  but  he  did  not  mind  that  at  all,  when 
he  thought  of  the  little  lamb  out  all  alone  on  the  hill¬ 
side.  He  hurried  back  to  the  hills  where  the  sheep  had 
been  all  day,  to  look  for  the  lamb. 

Moses  could  not  see  it  anywhere  for  it  was  nearly 
dark,  but  he  heard  a  soft,  low  ‘baa-baa.”  He  knew 
the  little  lamb  must  be  close  by.  He  looked  around 
and  there  it  was,  lying  on  the  ground  under  a  bush,  all 
tired  out  and  shivering  with  cold.  Moses  took  it  in 
his  arms,  wrapped  his  own  coat  around  it,  and,  although 
he  was  so  tired  himself,  he  carried  that  heavy  little  lamb 
all  the  way  home.  And  then  he  fed  it  before  he  had 
his  own  supper. 


71 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


One  day,  when  Moses  was  walking  alone,  he  saw 
a  bush  that  looked  as  if  it  were  on  fire.  He  walked 
nearer  to  it,  and  saw  that  though  there  was  a  big  flame 
around  it,  the  bush  did  not  burn  out.  And  he  heard  a 
Voice  speaking  from  out  of  the  bush,  and  he  knew  it 
was  the  Voice  of  God.  And  the  Voice  said  to  him  that 
just  as  the  bush  was  burning  and  was  not  destroyed  so 
would  the  people  of  Moses  never  be  destroyed.  And 
Moses  took  off  his  sandals  and  bowed  his  head  in  prayer, 
for  he  knew  he  was  standing  on  holy  ground. 

Moses  had  a  brother,  Aaron,  who  was  also  a  very 
good  man.  Moses  and  Aaron  often  spoke  to  each 
other  about  the  hard  work  their  people  had  to  do. 
They  tried  to  think  of  some  way  to  set  them  free  and 
take  them  away  from  Egypt.  They  both  prayed  God  to 
help  them,  or  tell  them  what  to  do. 

At  last,  one  day  God  spoke  to  Moses  and  said:  “Go 
back  to  Egypt  and  take  your  brother  Aaron  with  you. 
Ask  Pharaoh  to  let  your  people  go  into  the  desert,  so 
they  can  bring  sacrifices  to  God.  If  the  king  does  not 
let  the  people  go,  tell  him  God  will  punish  him.  ’’ 
When  Moses  and  Aaron  came  to  the  king,  and  told 
him  what  God  had  said,  Pharaoh  answered:  “I  do 

72 


THE  BABY  IN  THE  BASKET 


not  believe  a  word  you  say.  Your  God  will  not  punish 

such  a  great  king  as  I  am,  and  I  will  not  let  your  people* 

»» 

g°- 

Then  God  sent  the  punishments,  one  after  the  other, 
till  Pharaoh  let  the  people  go.  He  sent  the  “Ten 
Plagues”  upon  the  land  of  Egypt.  (A  plague  is  some¬ 
thing  which  gives  us  pain  or  worry  or  unhappiness.) 

This  was  the  first  plague.  All  the  water  was  changed 
into  blood.  In  the  rivers  and  lakes  and  fountains, 
and  even  in  the  glasses  and  pitchers,  all  over,  wherever 
there  was  any  water,  it  turned  into  blood.  No  one  had 
any  water  to  drink,  and  everybody  was  afraid.  The 
king  was  frightened,  as  well  as  the  people,  and  he  sent 
for  Moses  and  said:  “If  your  God  will  make  the  water 
J  clean  again  I  will  let  your  people  go.” 

Moses  prayed  to  God  to  change  the  blood  back  to 
water  again,  and  God  did  so.  But  when  Pharaoh  saw 
that  the  water  was  clean,  he  changed  his  mind  and 
would  not  let  the  people  go.  Then  God  sent  the 
second  plague. 

Frogs  came.  They  came  from  the  woods  and  from 
the  rivers  and  from  the  grass.  Millions  of  frogs  came 
and  they  hopped  everywhere.  Into  houses  and  pan- 

73 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


tries,  into  bureau  drawers  and  wardrobes,  upon  tables 
and  chairs  and  even  in  the  beds,  there  was  nothing  but 

frogs. 

Then  Pharaoh  sent  for  Moses  again.  He  told  him 
if  the  frogs  were  taken  away  he  would  let  the  people  go. 
Moses  prayed  to  God  to  remove  the  frogs,  and  soon  they 
all  hopped  back  to  the  places  from  which  they  came. 
But  when  they  were  all  gone,  the  king  said  he  would 
not  let  the  people  go. 

Then  the  third  plague  was  sent.  Ugly  bugs  came. 
They  crawled  over  everything,  and  bit  everybody. 
But  still  the  king  would  not  let  the  people  go. 

The  fourth  plague  was  flies.  There  were  thousands 
and  thousands  of  flies  everywhere. 

The  fifth  plague  was  a  sickness  among  all  the  cattle. 
They  were  so  sick  that  many  died. 

The  sixth  plague  was  boils,  great  big  ugly  sores.  All 
the  Egyptians  got  them  all  over  their  bodies,  and  the 
boils  hurt  them  badly. 

The  seventh  plague  was  a  great  hail-storm.  The 
hail  fell  so  fast  and  in  such  big  lumps,  that  the  fruit 
on  the  trees  and  the  grains  in  the  fields  were  destroyed. 
The  eighth  plague  was  locusts.  Locusts  are  insects 

74 


THE  BABY  IN  THE  BASKET 


something  like  grasshoppers,  and  the  locusts  ate  every¬ 
thing  that  was  left  after  the  hail-storm. 

The  ninth  plague  was  darkness.  Even  in  the  day 
time,  it  was  as  dark  as  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  and 
there  was  no  sun,  nor  moon,  nor  stars,  to  give  any  light. 

During  this  time,  always  after  each  plague  came, 
Pharaoh  sent  for  Moses,  and  told  him  the  same  thing 
over  and  over  again.  He  said  if  God  took  away  the 
plague,  he  would  let  the  people  go.  Then  each  time 
after  the  plague  was  taken  away,  Pharaoh  changed  his 
mind  and  would  not  let  the  people  go. 

After  the  ninth  plague,  God  said  to  Moses:  “I  will 
send  one  more  plague  upon  Pharaoh  and  the  whole  land 
of  Egypt.  After  that,  he  will  surely  let  you  go.” 

God  told  Moses  that  in  the  middle  of  the  next  night, 
the  oldest  or  first-born  child  in  every  Egyptian  family 
would  die — not  only  the  first-born  of  every  family,  but 
the  first-born  of  all  the  cattle  too.  God  promised  that 
nothing  would  happen  to  the  Israelites,  because  God 
loved  them  more  than  the  Egyptians. 

When  God  told  Moses  what  he  must  do  to  save 
the  Israelites,  Moses  sent  men  around  to  all  the  peo¬ 
ple.  He  told  them  to  go  from  one  house  to  another 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


wherever  an  Israelite  lived,  and  told  them  to  say  this: 
“Take  as  many  lambs  as  you  need,  and  kill  them.  Then 
take  a  little  bunch  of  hyssop  (a  small  plant  that  grows 
in  Egypt),  and  dip  the  leaves  in  the  lamb’s  blood. 
Sprinkle  this  blood  on  the  side  of  each  door  of  an  Is¬ 
raelite’s  house.  After  that  is  done,  let  every  one  go 
inside  of  the  houses,  and  stay  there.  No  one  must  go 
out  again  until  morning  comes.”  And  everything  was 
done  just  as  Moses  wanted,  just  as  God  had  ordered  it. 

Then  God  spoke  to  Moses  again.  He  said:  “See 
to  it  that  the  people  obey  me  and  stay  inside  their 
houses  tonight.  For  tonight,  I,  your  God,  will  send 
the  Angel  of  Death  into  every  house  in  Egypt,  except 
those  houses  where  the  blood  was  sprinkled  on  the  door¬ 
posts.  The  Angel  of  Death  will  pass  over  those  houses, 
and  no  one  who  is  in  them  will  be  harmed.  For  all 
the  years  to  come,  let  the  children  of  Israel  remember 
the  Passover,  and  thank  God  that  the  Angel  of  Death 
did  pass  over  those  houses  in  Egypt.” 

And  that  night,  at  midnight,  there  was  much  weep¬ 
ing  in  Egypt,  for  in  every  house  and  in  every  barn,  and 
in  every  field,  some  one  was  dead.  But  in  the  houses 
of  the  Israelites  all  was  well. 

76 


THE  BABY  IN  THE  BASKET 


In  that  same  night,  Pharaoh  called  Moses  and  Aaron 
to  the  palace,  and  said  to  them:  “Go!  go!  you  and 
your  people.  Take  your  flocks  and  your  herds  with 
you  and  go!  I  never  want  to  see  any  of  you  again.” 

Moses  gave  the  order,  and  the  people  packed  their 
things  very  quickly,  for  they  were  so  poor,  they  did 
not  have  much  to  pack.  Many  of  them  had  some  dough 
ready  to  make  bread,  but  there  was  no  time  to  bake  it, 
so  the  women  took  it  as  it  was.  And  when  they  were 
hungry,  they  made  flat  crackers  out  of  the  dough  which 
they  had  brought  with  them.  These  crackers  are  called 
“matzoh,”  and  thousands  of  Jews,  all  over  the  world,  eat 
them  each  year  at  Passover  time,  instead  of  bread. 

At  last,  every  one  was  ready  to  start.  The  Egyp¬ 
tians  were  so  glad  the  Israelites  were  going  away,  and 
so  glad  that  the  God  of  Israel  had  stopped  the  plagues, 
that  they  gave  them  many  presents  of  gold  and  silver. 

Passover  is  to  the  Jews  what  the  Fourth  of  July  is  to 
Americans.  It  is  the  day  that  celebrates  the  indepen¬ 
dence  of  the  Jews,  just  as  the  Fourth  of  July  celebrates 
the  independence  of  America.  Passover  freed  the  Jews 
from  the  King  of  Egypt,  and  the  Fourth  of  July  freed 
the  Americans  from  the  King  of  England. 

77 


X 


THE  GREAT  LEADER 

MOSES 

Soon  after  the  people  of  Israel  left  Egypt,  they  chose 
Moses  to  be  their  captain  and  leader.  They  said  if  he 
would  lead  the  way,  they  would  follow  him.  Moses 
prayed  God  to  give  him  a  sign  where  to  lead  them,  and 
God  said  to  him:  “I  will  put  a  pillar  of  cloud  in  the  sky. 
Then  I  will  send  a  wind  to  blow  the  cloud  in  the  way 
I  want  it  to  go,  and  you  must  follow  the  cloud.  At  day¬ 
time,  it  will  be  a  dark  pillar  of  cloud,  and  at  night,  it 
will  be  a  bright  column  of  fire.  In  that  way,  you  can  all 
see  it  by  night  as  well  as  by  day/' 

Moses  looked  up  towards  the  sky,  and  there  was  the 
pillar  of  cloud.  All  day  long  they  followed  it,  and 
when  night  came,  the  cloud  changed  to  a  bright  pillar 
of  fire.  When  it  was  time  to  rest,  the  cloud  stood  still 
and  did  not  move  at  all.  Then  the  people  rested. 

After  the  Israelites  had  left  Egypt,  Pharaoh  began 
to  think  how  stupid  he  had  been  to  let  them  go.  These 

78 


THE  GREAT  LEADER 


people  had  done  all  the  hardest  work,  and  now  Pharaoh 
wanted  them  back.  He  commanded  his  soldiers  to  get 
ready  to  follow  them,  and  bring  his  chariots.  (A  chariot 
is  a  kind  of  carriage.) 

Pharaoh  had  six  hundred  chariots,  and  thousands 
and  thousands  of  soldiers,  and  they  all  hurried  to  catch 
the  Israelites.  These  poor  people  were  resting  near  a 
body  of  water  called  the  Red  Sea  ,  when  they  saw 
Pharaoh’s  army  coming.  They  were  frightened.  They 
told  Moses  it  was  all  his  fault  for  taking  them  away 
from  Egypt,  and  they  said  they  would  all  be  killed. 

“Do  not  be  afraid,’’  said  Moses.  “God  has  helped 
us  so  far,  and  He  will  still  take  care  of  us.  You  need 
only  wait  a  little  while,  and  you  will  find  out  that  the 
Egyptians  will  never  bother  us  any  more.” 

God  made  a  very  strong  east  wind  to  blow  over  the 
sea.  This  wind  swept  the  waters  far  to  the  sides,  and 
made  a  path  right  through  the  middle  of  the  sea,  and 
Moses  led  them  across  the  Red  Sea  just  as  if  it  were 
dry  land. 

When  Pharaoh  saw  this,  he  said  to  his  soldiers : 

Forward,  march!  Follow  quickly  while  the  water 
is  gone.’’ 


79 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


But  God  was  taking  care  of  His  people,  and  He 
stopped  the  wind  from  blowing,  just  when  the  Egyp¬ 
tians  started  to  cross  the  sea.  All  the  water  flowed 
back  again  to  the  middle  of  the  sea,  and  drowned  the 
wicked  king  and  the  soldiers  who  had  been  so  cruel  to 
the  Israelites.  Then  the  people  believed  that  God  was 
taking  care  of  them,  and  they  trusted  Moses  again. 

And  now  they  began  their  long  journey  through  the 
desert,  where  they  followed  the  pillar  of  cloud  by  day 
and  the  pillar  of  fire  by  night.  It  did  not  take  very  long, 
before  the  people  had  eaten  all  the  food  they  brought 
with  them  from  Egypt.  They  put  all  the  blame  on 
Moses  again,  and  said  it  was  his  fault  they  had  nothing 
to  eat. 

Moses  prayed  to  God  again,  and  God  said:  “Tell 
your  people  I  will  send  them  enough  to  eat.  Tell  them 
I  will  send  them  Manna.”  (Manna  is  a  kind  of  seed 
or  berry  that  grows  in  warm  countries,  and  is  very  good 
to  eat.  It  is  white  and  sweet,  and  it  tastes  like  cake.) 

God  said:  “Every  morning  I  will  send  a  rain  of  Man¬ 
na,  and  the  people  shall  pick  it  up  from  the  ground. 
They  must  take  only  enough  for  one  day’s  food,  and 
must  not  save  any  for  the  next  day.  On  the  sixth  day, 

80 


THE  GREAT  LEADER 


they  must  pick  up  enough  for  two  days,  because  there 
will  be  no  Manna  on  the  seventh  day,  for  the  seventh 
day  is  the  Sabbath.” 

Most  of  the  people  obeyed  Moses,  and  when  the 
Manna  fell  to  the  ground,  they  took  only  what  they 
needed  for  one  day.  But  some  of  them  were  very 
greedy,  just  as  children  sometimes  are.  They  took  more 
than  they  could  eat  and  tried  to  save  it.  And  what  do 
you  think  happened?  The  Manna  turned  black,  and 
smelled  so  bad,  they  were  glad  to  throw  it  away. 

But  on  the  sixth  day  they  gathered  enough  for  two 
days,  because  no  Manna  would  be  sent  on  the  Sabbath. 
That  Manna  did  not  turn  bad,  and  the  people  were  very 
careful  afterwards,  not  to  take  too  much  Manna  on  the 
week-days.  So,  for  awhile  they  were  contented.  Then, 
one  day,  they  found  fault  with  Moses  again,  and  said: 
“Here  we  are,  traveling  around  in  this  desert,  with  noth¬ 
ing  to  eat  but  Manna,  and  now  we  cannot  even  find 
water  to  drink.  It  is  all  your  fault  for  taking  us  away 
from  Egypt.”  Moses  prayed  God  to  show  him  where 
he  could  find  water. 

God  told  Moses  to  go  back  where  he  would  see  a 
large  rock  near  their  camp,  and  told  him  to  strike  the 

81 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


rock  with  his  staff  and  water  would  flow  from  it.  Moses 
did  as  God  told  him,  and  a  stream  of  water  flowed  out  of 
the  rock.  So  the  people  had  all  the  water  they  needed. 

Moses  was  very  patient  with  the  people,  although 
they  gave  him  trouble  all  the  time.  He  governed  them 
as  well  as  he  could,  but  they  acted  like  a  crowd  of 
naughty  children.  Moses  often  went  away  by  him¬ 
self  to  pray  to  God  to  help  him,  and  once  he  asked  God 
to  give  him  some  rules  or  laws,  which  the  people  would 
have  to  obey 

And  God  said  that  Moses  was  right.  “You  need 
laws  to  govern  the  people  and  I  will  make  the  laws. 
These  people  are  like  little  children,  and  always  want 
something  they  cannot  have.  They  must  live  here  in 
the  desert  for  many  years,  until  they  get  some  sense.” 
Then  God  spoke  again:  “There  will  come  a  day  when 
I,  your  God,  will  lead  you  out  of  this  desert  into  the 
Promised  Land.  That  is  the  land  I  promised  to  Abra¬ 
ham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  a  land  where  everything  grows 
and  where  all  the  people  will  be  happy.  But  not  yet. 
You  cannot  go  there  until  the  people  are  fit  to  go.” 

Moses  returned  to  the  camp,  gave  the  charge  of  the 
people  to  Aaron,  and  then  went  up  the  mountain  to 

82 


THE  GREAT  LEADER 


pray.  He  stayed  there  a  long  time,  praying  earnestly 
to  God  for  the  good  of  the  people,  and  then  God  said: 
“Go  back  to  the  camp  now.  Tell  the  people  to  wash 
their  clothes,  to  clean  their  tents,  and  to  wash  them¬ 
selves.  When  everything  is  perfectly  clean,  tell  your 
people  to  pray  to  God.  In  three  days  I,  the  Lord  God, 
will  speak  to  them  from  the  top  of  Mount  Sinai.” 

On  the  morning  of  the  third  day,  the  people  saw  a 
thick  black  cloud  upon  the  mountain.  They  heard  the 
sound  of  a  trumpet  coming  from  the  top  of  the  mountain, 
and  they  were  afraid.  The  trumpet  call  grew  louder 
and  louder,  and  the  cloud  grew  thicker  and  blacker.  It 
looked  like  heavy  smoke,  and  the  top  of  Mount  Sinai 
seemed  all  on  fire. 

Moses  prayed  out  loud  now  and  asked  if  God  was 
on  the  mountain  top,  and  a  Voice  answered  :“I  am  the 
Lord,  thy  God,  who  brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of  bondage.” 

Then  the  Voice  spoke  these  words: 

1 .  THOU  SHALT  HAVE  NO  OTHER  GOD  BUT  ME. 

2.  THOU  SHALT  NOT  MAKE  ANY  IMAGE  OF  GOD. 

3.  THOU  SHALT  NOT  TAKE  THE  NAME  OF  GOD  IN 
VAIN. 


83 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


4.  REMEMBER  THE  SABBATH  DAY  TO  KEEP  IT 

HOLY. 

5.  HONOR  THY  FATHER  AND  THY  MOTHER. 

6.  THOU  SHALT  NOT  KILL. 

7.  THOU  SHALT  NOT  DO  ANY  WRONG  ACT. 

8.  THOU  SHALT  NOT  STEAL. 

9.  THOU  SHALT  NOT  LIE  (“bear  false  witness”). 

10.  THOU  SHALT  NOT  COVET  (“covet”  is  to  want 

other  people’s  things) . 

The  Voice  of  God, — the  thunder  and  lightning, — the 
smoke  and  fire  on  Mount  Sinai, —  the  loud  tones  of  the 
trumpet — all  these  things  frightened  the  people  very, 
very  much.  They  trembled  and  moved  far  back  away 
from  the  mountain,  and  they  cried  out  to  Moses:  “After 
this,  you  speak  to  God  alone.  We  beg  you  to  do  this, 
and  then  tell  us  what  He  has  said.  But  do  not  let  God 
speak  to  us  again  for  we  are  afraid  of  Him.” 

“You  need  not  be  afraid  of  God,”  said  Moses,  “for 
God  loves  you  all.  He  wanted  to  show  you  how  great 
He  is ;  and  He  wanted  you  to  be  good  people,  and  obey 
the  Ten  Commandments  that  He  gave  you  this  day  from 
Mount  Sinai.” 


84 


MOSES  PRESENTING  THE  TEN  COMMANDMENTS 
TO  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL 


. 


: 


THE  GREAT  LEADER 


The  commandments  were  written  on  two  stone  tablets, 
and  .they  were  very  dear  to  all  the  people.  They  called 
them  the  “Holy  Law”  because  they  were  given  by  God, 
and  they  wanted  a  safe  place  to  keep  them.  Moses  let 
them  make  a  little  house  just  for  the  Law.  They  called 
it  an  ark,  for  it  kept  the  Holy  Law  just  as  safe  as  that 
big  ark  kept  Noah  so  long  before. 

But  it  was  a  very  different  kind  of  an  ark.  It  was 
made  of  the  finest  kind  of  wood,  and  had  ornaments  on 
it  of  real  gold  and  silver.  Instead  of  a  door,  it  had  a 
heavy  velvet  curtain  all  trimmed  with  gold.  The  cur¬ 
tain  hung  on  large  gold  rings,  and  could  be  moved  from 
side  to  side.  So  you  see,  it  was  not  very  much  like 
Noah’s  ark,  was  it? 

The  people  of  Israel  had  many  troubles  in  after  years. 
They  had  many  wars  with  other  people,  and  they  wan¬ 
dered  from  place  to  place  as  time  passed  on,  but 
wherever  they  went,  they  carried  the  ark  with  them. 
Sometimes  the  men  would  take  turns  in  carrying  it,  and 
sometimes  it  was  placed  in  a  small  wagon  that  the  men 
pushed  or  pulled  along.  But  it  was  always  with  them. 
They  said  the  Holy  Law  was  the  most  precious  thing 
they  had. 


85 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


Moses  himself  made  many  laws  to  govern  the  people, 
and  they  became  orderly,  good,  and  were  willing  to  work. 
For  forty  years  they  lived  in  the  desert,  when  one  day, 
Moses  heard  the  Voice  of  God  calling  him  again.  God 
said:  “Go  to  the  top  of  Mount  Neboh,  and  I  will  show 
you  the  land  I  promised  to  the  Israelites.” 

Then  Moses  sent  for  Joshua  who  was  a  very  good 
man.  Moses  knew  the  people  loved  Joshua,  so  Moses 
'made  him  the  new  leader.  Moses  was  a  very  old  man 
by  this  time,  and  he  knew  he  would  die  soon,  even  be¬ 
fore  the  people  could  go  into  the  Promised  Land.  He 
saw  the  beautiful  land  from  the  mountain  top,  and  then 
came  back  to  his  people. 

Moses  called  them  together  to  talk  to  them  once 
more  before  he  said  good-bye.  He  spoke  very  kindly 
to  them,  and  told  them  that  Joshua  would  be  the  next 
leader,  and,  would  take  them  into  the  Promised  Land. 
He  said  he  was  too  old  and  too  tired  to  do  anything  more 
for  them,  and  he  blessed  all  the  people,  and  said  good¬ 
bye. 

Moses  took  his  staff,  and  went  up  the  side  of  Mount 
Neboh  for  the  last  time.  God  caused  a  heavy  cloud  to 
cover  the  whole  mountain.  Moses  laid  down  to  rest  and 

86 


THE  GREAT  LEADER 


fell  into  a  deep  sleep.  He  never  woke  again,  for  God 
had  called  him  home. 

When  the  people  saw  that  Moses  did  not  come  back, 
they  knew  he  must  be  dead,  and  they  sobbed  and  cried, 
to  think  they  would  never  see  him  again.  They  had 
loved  Moses  dearly,  because  he  had  always  been  kind 
and  just  and  patient.  There  never  was  any  man,  either 
before  or  since  that  time,  who  was  greater  than  Moses. 


87 


XI 


THE  WOMAN  JUDGE 

DEBORAH 

Our  stories  have  been  only  about  boys  and  men,  but 
there  were  many  good  and  wise  women  in  those  days, 
and  the  Bible  tells  some  pretty  stories  about  them,  too. 
And  the  first  one  I  will  tell  you  will  be  about  Deborah. 
Before  the  Israelites  had  any  kings,  they  used  to  have 
chiefs  and  judges  to  rule  over  them.  And  in  the  time 
of  the  judges,  there  was  all  kinds  of  trouble. 

The  Israelites  never  looked  for  a  fight  or  for  war — 
they  did  not  want  it — they  wanted  to  live  a  quiet,  peace¬ 
ful  life.  But  there  were  many  people  living  in  the 
country  all  around  them,  who  were  wild  and  rough 
and  who  always  wanted  to  fight  or  have  war.  And 
these  rough  neighbors  worried  the  Israelites  very  much 
and  very  often;  so  the  judges  had  to  be  very  wise  in 
order  to  settle  all  the  troubles. 

One  of  the  very  best  of  the  judges  was  a  woman, 
and  her  name  was  Deborah.  She  lived  in  a  tent  which 

88 


DEBORAH 


THE  WOMAN  JUDGE 


was  set  under  a  large  palm  tree  near  Mount  Ephraim. 
Do  you  remember  how  Abraham  used  to  sit  at  the  door 
of  his  tent?  And  do  you  remember  how  all  the  people 
came  to  him,  and  how  he  always  settled  their  quarrels? 
Well,  Deborah  did  the  same  thing,  and  the  people  came 
to  her  with  all  their  troubles. 

Deborah  lived  in  a  warm  country,  where  there  was 
no  winter,  no  snow  or  ice,  and  no  cold  weather  at  all. 
And  there  Deborah  sat  by  the  door  of  her  tent,  in  the 
shade  of  that  large  and  beautiful  palm  tree.  The  tree 
was  known  as  “Deborah’s  Palm,’’  and  all  the  people, 
even  if  they  lived  many  ,  many  miles  away,  knew  that 
they  could  always  find  Deborah  sitting  there.  They 
knew  that  Deborah  was  good  and  wise,  and  they  knew 
whatever  she  told  them  to  do,  would  be  the  right  thing. 

Deborah  could  settle  the  little  quarrels,  but  often, 
the  wild  tribes  who  lived  in  the  mountains,  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  them,  would  come  to  fight  the  Israel¬ 
ites.  Deborah  knew  she  must  have  an  army,  too,  who 
could  fight  these  wild  neighbors.  So  she  ordered  all 
the  men  to  come  to  a  great  meeting,  and  when  they  were 
all  together,  she  formed  them  into  an  army,  just  as  easily 
as  the  boys  in  the  street  form  a  little  company  of  make- 

89 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


believe  soldiers,  only  Deborah’s  men  were  really  soldiers. 

One  day  she  sent  for  Barak,  the  general  of  the  army. 
When  he  came  she  said  to  him:  “Our  neighbors  are 
giving  us  too  much  trouble.  Call  the  officers  and  all 
the  soldiers  together,  and  go  out  to  fight.” 

“If  you  will  go  with  the  army,”  said  Barak,  “I  will 
go  too;  but  I  will  not  go  without  you.”  Just  think  of 
that — a  brave,  strong  general,  to  say  to  a  woman  that 
he  would  not  go  to  war  without  her!  But  can  you 
guess  why  he  said  it?  Not  because  Barak  was  afraid, 
but  because  he  knew  how  wise  and  good  Deborah  was, 
and  he  wanted  her  there  to  help  the  soldiers  and  cheer 
them  up. 

Deborah  said:  “I  will  go  with  you,  but  you  will 
not  need  me.  The  God  of  Israel  is  always  on  the  side 
of  the  Right,  and  we  are  in  the  right.  Sisera,  the  general 
of  the  other  army  is  a  very  wicked  man,  and  we  will 
win  in  this  fight.” 

And  what  Deborah  said  came  true.  She  stood  on 
a  little  hill  near  the  field  of  battle,  and  she  saw  that 
the  Israelites  were  winning.  When  the  battle  was  over, 
Deborah  commanded  the  bugler  to  sound  the  bugle 

call  that  brought  the  soldiers  together.  He  did  this, 

91) 


THE  WOMAN  JUDGE 


and  when  they  formed  in  companies  all  around  Debo¬ 
rah,  and  wanted  to  cheer  for  her,  she  held  up  her  hand 
for  silence.  Then  she  sang  a  song  of  praise  and  thanks 
to  God,  for  letting  the  Israelites  win  the  battle,  and 
in  it  she  prayed  God  always  to  be  good  to  His  children. 

Some  day,  when  you  are  older,  you  can  read  the 
words  of  this  song  in  the  Bible. 


9! 


XII 


A  STORY  OF  LOVE 

RUTH 

Do  you  remember  about  the  famine,  long  ago,  when 
Joseph  was  the  governor  of  Egypt,  the  time  when 
there  was  very  little  to  eat  in  the  whole  country?  Well, 
in  the  time  of  the  Judges,  long  after  Deborah  died, 
there  was  a  great  famine,  too.  In  one  town,  many  people 
packed  their  things  and  moved  away.  In  this  town 
there  lived  a  man  named  Elimelech,  with  his  wife 
Naomi,  and  their  two  sons. 

When  Elimelech  saw  how  little  food  there  was,  he 
told  his  family  they  must  move  away  from  the  place. 
They  went  to  the  country  of  Moab  where  there  was 
plenty  of  everything,  and  made  their  home  there.  When 
the  two  sons  were  old  enough,  they  married  two  young 
girls,  Orpah  and  Ruth,  who  lived  in  Moab.  After 
awhile  Elimelech  died,  and  Naomi  went  to  live  with 
her  children  who  had  their  own  house. 

But  poor  Naomi  was  sad  all  the  time,  for  she  missed 

92 


< 


A  STORY  OF  LOVE 


#  '  -  -  -  '  ■  - 

her  good  husband  and  her  own  land.  She  could  not 
speak  to  any  one  in  Moab,  because  she  did  not  under¬ 
stand  the  language.  Orpah  and  Ruth  had  tried  to  learn 
a  little  Hebrew,  so  as  to  talk  with  Naomi,  but  they  did 
not  know  very  much.  Naomi  was  very  homesick  too, 
and  often  wished  she  could  go  back  to  her  old  home. 

One  day  Naomi’s  son  was  taken  very  sick  and  died. 
Soon  after  that,  the  other  son  was  taken  sick  in  the  same 
way,  and  he  died  too.  Can  you  imagine  how  unhappy 
Naomi  was?  Her  husband  and  her  two  dear  sons  were 
all  dead,  and  she  was  alone  in  a  strange  city,  far,  far 
away  from  her  home  and  her  relations.  Of  course,  she 
had  Orpah  and  Ruth,  but  they  were  not  her  very  own. 
They  belonged  in  Moab,  and  Naomi  thought  that  now 
both  girls  would  go  back  to  their  fathers’  houses. 

One  day  Naomi  and  the  two  girls  were  sitting  to¬ 
gether  in  their  room.  Naomi  said:  “It  is  many  years 
since  I  came  to  Moab  to  stay  here,  and  now  there  is 
no  more  famine  in  my  own  land.  I  am  an  old  woman, 
and  I  want  to  go  back  to  my  home  and  my  people.  I 
want  to  be  where  I  can  pray  to  God  in  my  own  old  way, 
and  that  is  very  different  from  your  way  here  in  Moab. 

The  girls  said  they  would  go  with  her,  but  Naomi 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


i 


answered:  “No,  no.  I  am  old  and  you  are  young. 
You  stay  here  in  your  own  country,  with  all  your  friends, 
with  people  you  know  and  love.”  Naomi  took  her 
handkerchief  and  dried  her  eyes.  Then  she  spoke 
again:  “You  have  been  good  girls.  You  have  been 
good  wives  to  your  husbands,  my  dear  sons,  and  you 
have  been  kind  to  me.  I  ask  my  God  to  bless  you  both. 
My  clothes  are  all  packed  and  I  am  going  now,  so  I  will 
say  goodbye  to  both  of  you.” 

Orpah  kissed  Naomi  many  times  and  left  her.  But 
Ruth  stood  still  and  said:  “I  cannot  leave  you  alone, 
dear  mother  Naomi.” 

“See,  Ruth,”  said  Naomi,  “Orpah  has  gone  back  to 
her  people;  won’t  you  go,  too?” 

But  Ruth  threw  her  young  strong  arms  around  the 
neck  of  the  lovely  old  Naomi,  kissed  her,  and  begged 
her  to  let  her  go  back  to  Bethlehem  to  the  old  home 
with  her. 

Naomi  shook  her  head  and  said,  “No,  no,”  once  more, 
but  Ruth  answered:  “Entreat  me  not  to  leave  thee,  or  to 
return  from  following  after  thee.  Whither  thou  goest,  I 
will  go  and  where  thou  lodgest  I  will  lodge.  Thy  people 
shall  be  my  people  and  thy  God  my  God.” 

94 


RUTH,  THROWING  HER  ARMS  AROUND  NAOMI,  SAID: 
“ENTREAT  ME  NOT  TO  LEAVE  THEE.” 


- 


' 

i 


A  STORY  OF  LOVE 


Those  are  the  beautiful  words  and  sentences,  just  as 
they  are  printed  in  the  Bible.  I  put  them  in  the  story 
because  I  want  you  to  know  them.  But  perhaps  some  of 
the  little  folks  who  hear  or  read  these  stories  will  not 
understand  what  Ruth  meant,  so  I  will  tell  you  again  in 
another  way.  Ruth  said  to  Naomi: 

“Please  do  not  send  me  away  from  you.  Let  me 
follow  you,  and  let  me  go  to  your  home  to  live  there 
with  you.  I  want  your  people  to  love  me,  just  as  if 
they  were  my  own  people.  I  want  you  to  teach  me 
to  pray  to  your  God,  so  He  can  be  my  God  too.” 

Wasn’t  that  just  lovely  of  Ruth  to  talk  like  that  to 
Naomi?  But  Ruth  loved  Naomi  as  much  as  any  of 
you  love  your  own  dear  Mama.  That  was  why  she 
would  not  let  her  go  away  all  alone. 

When  Naomi  saw  that  Ruth  was  in  earnest,  and 
loved  her  enough  to  go  away  with  her,  she  was  very 
glad.  She  never  said  to  either  of  the  girls,  how  scared 
she  was  to  take  that  long  journey  to  Bethlehem  from 
Moab  all  alone,  and  she  was  happy  to  have  Ruth  for 
company. 

They  came  to  Bethlehem  just  at  the  time  when  the 
grain  was  ripe.  All  the  fields  were  filled  with  men  and 

95 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


women.  The  rich  men  who  owned  all  the  corn  and 
barley  and  wheat  had  sent  out  their  servants  and  all 
the  men  who  worked  on  the  farms,  to  cut  down  the  grain. 
When  it  was  all  cut  down  and  dried  by  the  sun,  it  was 
brought  home  and  put  away  in  the  barns. 

Naomi  had  a  cousin  who  lived  in  Bethlehem — a  very 
rich  man  whose  name  was  Boaz.  Boaz  owned  many 
fields  and  he  had  many  men  and  women  working  there 
for  him,  to  cut  down  the  grain  and  to  put  it  away  in  the 
barns. 

Now  there  was  a  law  that  Moses  had  given  to  his 
people  long  ago  at  the  time  that  he  made  all  the  laws 
for  them,  and  it  was  this:  When  the  ripe  grain  is  cut 
down  in  the  fields,  no  one  dare  touch  any  grain  that 
grows  in  the  corners — the  four  corners  of  the  field,  this 
grain  must  be  left  for  the  poor. 

Was  not  that  a  kind  law?  Men  who  were  poor,  did 
not  own  land  and  had  no  grain,  so  when  the  servants 
of  the  rich  men  left  the  grain  in  the  four  corners  of  the 
fields,  the  poor  people  had  the  right  to  go  there  at  certain 
times  and  pick  it  all  up.  This  law  was  obeyed  by  every 
one  who  owned  fields  of  grain,  and  the  servants  of  Boaz 

were  told  to  leave  the  grain  alone  that  grew  in  the  corners. 

96 


A  STORY  OF  LOVE 


For  a  few  days  after  Ruth  and  Noami  had  come  to 
Bethlehem,  Ruth  watched  the  men  and  women  at  work 
in  the  fields.  Then  she  said  to  Naomi:  “May  I  go 
out  into  the  fields  to  pick  some  barley?” 

Naomi  said :  “Yes,  you  may  go  for  we  are  very  poor, 
and  there  is  much  grain  left  in  the  comers.  And  Ruth, 
I  want  you  to  go  to  the  fields  that  belong  to  my  cousin 
Boaz,  and  gather  the  barley  there.” 

Boaz  had  never  seen  Ruth  before,  so  when  he  saw  her 
in  the  field,  standing  in  the  corner  and  placing  the  barley 
in  her  apron,  he  asked  one  of  his  servants:  “Who  is 
that  strange  girl?  I  have  never  seen  her  before.” 

“That  is  Ruth — the  beautiful  young  woman  from 
Moab.  She  left  her  home  and  all  her  people  to  come 
here  with  Naomi,  and  to  take  care  of  her  because  she 
is  old  and  lonely.” 

Boaz  said  to  his  servants:  “Leave  plenty  of  barley 
in  the  corners,  and  whoever  goes  near  Ruth  must  drop 
some  of  the  barley  on  the  ground  near  her ,  so  that  she  can 
see  it  and  pick  it  up.” 

One  day,  when  Boaz  was  walking  across  the  field,  he 
spoke  to  Ruth,  and  said:  “Tell  me  why  do  you  stand  in 
the  sun  all  day?  You  work  as  hard  as  my  servants  do/’ 

97 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


“Because  I  love  Naomi,’’  answered  Ruth.  “She  is 
poor,  and  she  is  too  old  to  work.  So  I  am  gathering  all 
the  grain  I  can.” 

Boaz  looked  at  the  pretty  girl  for  a  moment,  and  then 
said:  “At  noontime,  go  and  sit  by  the  other  girls  and  eat 
the  food  that  they  brought  with  them.” 

He  went  to  his  servants  and  told  them  to  give  her  some¬ 
thing  to  eat  at  noon,  and  to  be  very  kind  to  her.  Then  he 
went  back  to  the  house,  for  Boaz  was  a  very  rich  man, 
and  had  a  fine  house.  He  thought  of  Ruth  many  times 
that  day,  and  said  to  himself:  “Ruth  is  a  beautiful  girl, 
and  she  is  as  good  and  as  kind  and  as  helpful  as  she  is 
beautiful.” 

Boaz  was  lonely  in  his  big  house,  all  alone  with  his 
servants.  One  day  he  went  to  see  his  cousin  Naomi  and 
asked  her  to  come  and  live  in  his  house.  He  said  :“I  love 
your  daughter  Ruth  and  I  want  to  marry  her,  and  then 
you  both  can  live  with  me.” 

Ruth  loved  Boaz  too,  so  they  were  married;  and  the 
poor  girl  from  Moab  became  the  rich  lady  of  Bethlehem. 
But  she  always  remained  the  same  kind-hearted,  sweet 
and  helpful  Ruth,  and  was  good  to  the  poor,  and  did 

whatever  she  could  for  them. 

98 


XIII 


THE  BOY  PRIEST 

SAMUEL 

Many  years  after  the  death  of  Joshua,  in  a  small  town 
near  Shiloh,  there  lived  a  man  named  Elkanah  and  his 
wife  Hannah.  They  loved  God  very  much,  and  prayed 
to  Him  every  morning  and  every  night,  and  Hannah 
talked  to  God  just  like  you  talk  to  your  father. 

Once  she  prayed  to  God  to  send  her  a  little  baby  boy, 
and  said:  “Dear  God,  if  you  send  me  a  little  baby  boy, 
you  will  make  me  very  happy.  Just  as  soon  as  he  is  old 
enough  to  walk,  I  will  let  him  go  to  Shiloh,  and  be  a 
priest  like  Aaron  was.” 

Shiloh  was  the  city  where  the  Israelites  used  to  go  to 
bring  sacrifices.  They  worshipped  God  in  theTaber- 
nacle ;  and  Eli  was  the  name  of  the  head  priest  there,  or 
“high  priest,”  as  he  was  called.  The  Tabernacle  was 
something  like  a  temple,  only  not  so  fine,  and  the  priests 
lived  near  there. 


99 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


One  day  the  little  baby  boy  that  Hannah  had  prayed 
for,  came  to  her  home.  She  named  him  Samuel.  She 
was  very  happy  to  have  this  little  baby  for  he  was  good 
and  sweet  and  pretty.  Although  Hannah  loved  her  little 
boy  very  much,  she  did  not  forget  her  promise,  and  when 
Samuel  was  two  years  old,  his  father  and  mother  took 
him  to  Shiloh  to  the  Tabernacle. 

The  good  old  priest  Eli  was  sitting  near  the  gate,  and 
said  to  Hannah:  “Who  is  that  little  child?  Why  do  you 
bring  him  here?”  Hannah  answered:  “I  prayed  to  God 
once  to  send  me  this  little  boy,  and  I  promised  he  should 
learn  to  serve  God  and  be  a  priest.  I  have  brought  him 
here  to  keep  my  promise,  and  will  leave  him  here  to  serve 
in  the  Tabernacle.” 

Eli  told  little  Samuel  to  kiss  his  mother  good-bye,  after 
which  she  went  back  to  her  home.  Eli  took  the  little  boy 
with  him  to  his  own  house.  He  showed  Samuel  a  small 
room  with  a  tiny  bed,  and  a  chair  and  table  in  it,  and 
said:  “This  will  be  your  own  little  room.  I  sleep  in  the 
next  room.  If  you  want  me  at  night  you  can  call  me,  and 
I  will  come  to  you.  If  I  want  you  for  anything,  I  will 
call  you  to  come  to  me. 

Samuel  was  happy  in  the  house  of  the  good  priest  Eli, 

100 


HANNAH  BRINGS  HER  LITTLE  BOY  SAMUEL  TO  ELI 


THE  BOY  PRIEST 


and  he  was  such  a  cheerful,  good  and  merry  little  fellow 
that  every  one  loved  him.  But  though  he  liked  to  play, 
just  like  other  little  boys  do,  he  loved  to  go  to  the  Taber¬ 
nacle  with  Eli,  and  always  helped  the  kind  old  priest  in 
every  way  he  could. 

Once  every  year,  Samuel’s  father  and  mother  came  to 
Shiloh  to  worship  God,  and  every  year  Hannah  brought 
a  nice  new  coat  for  her  boy.  And  as  the  boy  grew  older, 
he  was  tall  and  beautiful.  He  was  kind  to  every  one, 
and  was  now  very  helpful  to  Eli.  He  helped  him  more 

with  the  sacrifices  and  the  prayers  every  day. 

One  night,  while  Samuel  was  asleep,  he  thought  he 

heard  some  one  call  his  name.  He  jumped  out  of  bed, 
went  into  Eli’s  room  and  said:  “Here  I  am, — I  heard  you 
call  me,” 

“But  I  did  not  call  you,”  said  Eli.  “Go  back  to  bed 
again.” 

Samuel  obeyed,  but  soon  afterward,  the  boy  heard  his 
name  called  again.  He  jumped  up,  hurried  into  Eli’s 
room,  and  asked  what  Eli  wanted. 

Eli  said  he  did  not  call,  and  sent  the  boy  back  to  bed. 
In  a  little  while,  he  heard  the  call  again.  Again  he 
hurried  into  Eli’s  room  and  told  him.  Then  Eli  knew 

101 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


it  was  God  who  was  calling  the  boy,  and  he  said  to 
Samuel:  “Go  back  to  bed  once  more,  and  when  you 
hear  the  voice  again,  you  must  answer,  because  it  is 
God  who  called  you.” 

Samuel  did  as  Eli  said,  and  it  did  not  take  long 
before  he  heard  the  call  again:  “Samuel!  Samuel!” 

”1  am  here,  O  God,”  said  the  boy. 

Then  God  told  Samuel  that  Eli  was  a  very  old  man 
and  would  die  soon,  and  that  God  wanted  Samuel  to  be 
the  priest  afterwards.  So,  after  Eli’s  death  Samuel  was 
the  high  priest,  and  he  taught  the  people  many  good 
and  wise  things. 

After  the  Israelites  came  into  the  Promised  Land, 
they  chose  different  places  where  they  put  up  their  tents 
for  their  homes.  They  planted  many  kinds  of  fruit  trees 
and  nut  trees,  and  all  kinds  of  grain,  mostly  wheat  and 
barley  and  oats.  They  tended  their  sheep  and  goats 
and  cattle,  and  lived  a  quiet  peaceful  life  for  many 
years. 

But  they  had  some  neighbors  living  in  different  towns 
near  there,  who  often  made  trouble  for  them.  The 
Israelites  had  good  laws,  and  they  had  chiefs  to  rule. 
These  chiefs  were  called  Priests  and  Judges.  But  the 

102 


THE  BOY  PRIEST 


Israelites  thought  if  they  had  a  king,  the  neighbors 
would  be  afraid  of  him,  and  then  they  would  not  be  so 
troublesome. 

So  the  Judges  called  a  meeting  of  the  men  of  all 
the  tribes  of  Israel  to  talk  it  over.  They  had  the  meet¬ 
ing  and  chose  a  man  named  Saul  to  be  their  king. 
Samuel  was  sorry  for  this.  He  knew  there  was  many 
a  man  in  Israel  who  would  be  a  better  king  than  Saul, 
but  he  did  not  say  what  he  thought. 

After  Saul  was  king  for  awhile,  he  said  and  did 
many  things  that  were  not  right.  Then  God  called 
to  Samuel,  and  said  to  him:  “You  know  Saul  is  not  a 
very  good  man,  so  you  must  have  another  king.  There 
is  a  family  of  very  good  men  in  Bethlehem,  and  one  of 
that  family  is  to  be  King  of  Israel.  Go  to  Jesse,  who  is 
the  head  of  the  family,  and  ask  him  to  let  you  talk  to  all 
his  sons.  Then  I  will  tell  you  which  one  shall  be  king.” 

Samuel  went  to  Jesse’s  home,  and  asked  to  see  the 
sons.  Jesse  called  them  one  after  the  other,  until  seven 
fine  men  stood  before  Samuel.  Then  Samuel  asked: 
“Is  this  all?  Have  you  no  other  son?” 

“There  is  only  one  more,”  answered  Jesse,  “but  he 
is  a  young  boy  and  takes  care  of  the  sheep.” 

103 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


“Send  for  him,  so  that  I  can  see  him,”  said  Samuel. 

When  the  boy  came,  Samuel  saw  how  beautiful  he 
was.  He  also  heard  the  Voice  of  God  saying:  “This 
is  the  boy  David,  whom  I  want  for  the  King  of  Israel. 
Go  now,  get  some  holy  oil,  pour  a  little  on  his  head  and 
anoint  him  with  it.” 

Then  Samuel  took  a  horn  filled  with  the  holy  oil.  He 
poured  a  few  drops  on  the  boy’s  head,  rubbed  it  into 
his  hair,  and  said  a  little  prayer.  In  former  times  this 
was  always  done  when  a  new  king  was  chosen. 

Now,  Saul  was  very  sorry  for  the  wrong  things  he  had 
done,  and  he  promised  he  would  obey  all  God’s  com¬ 
mandments  and  be  a  good  king.  So,  although  David 
had  been  made  the  real  king,  when  the  holy  oil  was  put 
on  his  head,  just  now  Saul  was  king. 


104 


XIV 


THE  SHEPHERD  KING 

DAVID 

The  nearest  neighbors  to  the  Israelites  were  the 
Philistines.  These  people  wanted  the  rich  land  that 
belonged  to  the  Israelites,  so  the  king  of  the  Philistines 
went  to  war  against  the  king  of  the  Israelites.  The 
Philistines  were  all  very  large  and  tall  men,  many  of 
them  were  giants.  The  king  of  the  Philistines  had 
placed  his  army  on  the  side  of  a  tall  mountain.  Saul’s 
army  was  on  the  side  of  another  mountain.  Between 
these  two  mountains  there  were  smooth  fields,  called  a 
valley. 

One  morning,  a  man  from  the  Philistine  army  came 
down  the  mountain-side,  and  went  out  into  the  valley. 
The  man  was  a  big  giant,  and  his  name  was  Goliath. 
He  had  a  heavy  brass  helmet  on  his  head,  his  coat  was 
made  of  little  pieces  of  steel  joined  together,  and  he  Had 

metal  coverings  on  his  arms  and  legs.  In  one  hand  he 

105 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


carried  a  big  shield,  in  the  other  hand  he  held  a  spear 
that  was  as  high  as  a  lamp-post,  and  hanging  down 
from  a  wide  leather  belt,  was  a  very  long  sword. 

Goliath  looked  so  fierce  and  ugly,  it  was  enough 
to  frighten  anybody.  He  looked  around  him  at  the 
two  armies  on  the  two  mountains,  and  then  shouted 
in  a  voice  as  loud  as  thunder:  “I  am  a  Philistine.  You 
are  the  soldiers  of  Saul,  king  of  Israel.  Send  a  man 
down  here  in  the  valley  to  fight  with  me.  If  he  wins 
the  fight  and  kills  me,  all  the  Philistines  will  be  your 
servants  and  work  for  you.  But,  if  I  win  and  kill  your 
man,  all  the  Israelites  must  be  our  servants  and  work  for 
us.  Now,  send  down  your  man!” 

Saul  and  his  soldiers  heard  what  Goliath  said,  but 
they  were  afraid  to  send  any  man  down,  because  they 
had  no  tall  men  in  their  army  who  could  fight  such  a 
great  big  giant.  And  every  morning,  Goliath  stalked 
out  into  the  valley  to  shout  the  same  words,  but  no  man 
was  willing  to  fight  with  him. 

The  brothers  of  David  were  in  Saul’s  army,  and 
every  day  young  David  came  into  the  camp  of  Israel  to 
bring  food  to  his  brothers.  When  he  heard  what 

Goliath  was  shouting,  David  said:  “I  am  not  afraid. 

106 


THE  SHEPHERD  KING 


I  will  fight  with  him.”  Saul  told  him  he  was  too  young, 
and  was  not  strong  enough,  but  David  said:  “I  know  I 
am  young,  but  I  am  strong.  Once  a  lion  came  into  the 
field  where  I  was  watching  my  father’s  sheep.  The 
lion  took  a  lamb,  and  I  killed  the  lion.  Another  time 
a  bear  came  and  tried  to  take  one  of  the  sheep,  and  I 
killed  him  too.” 

“If  you  were  able  to  kill  the  lion  and  the  bear,”  said 
the  king,  “I  am  sure  you  are  not  afraid  of  this  giant. 
Go,  and  may  God  take  care  of  you.” 

Saul  gave  David  his  own  heavy  coat  of  steel  and 
iron,  and  his  own  helmet  and  sword.  Can  you  imagine 
how  funny  little  David  looked  after  he  dressed  himself 
in  a  man’s  clothes?  He  felt  as  funny  as  he  looked. 
He  thanked  the  king,  then  took  off  the  things  and  said 
they  were  too  big  and  too  heavy  for  him  to  wear.  Then 
he  picked  up  his  staff,  that  is,  the  little  stick  with  which 
he  used  to  keep  the  sheep  together,  and  walked  away. 

David  went  over  to  a  little  stream  that  flowed  down 
the  mountain-side.  There  he  found  five  smooth  stones, 
and  he  put  them  in  a  little  bag  he  carried.  In  his  hand 
he  held  a  sling, — a  kind  of  heavy  cord  with  a  loose 

knot  at  the  end.  If  a  stone  is  put  carefully  into  a  good 

107 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


sling,  it  can  be  thrown  at  any  one  with  very  much  force. 

David  ran  down  into  the  valley,  and  when  the  giant 
saw  the  little  fellow  he  laughed  out  loud,  and  said; 
“Is  this  the  man  you  people  of  Israel  send  out  to  fight 
with  me?  He  is  nothing  but  a  boy,  and  I  will  show 
you  how  easily  I  can  kill  him.” 

David  said:  “You  come  to  me  with  a  sword  and  a 
spear,  but  I  come  to  you  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  our 
God  of  Israel.  He  will  give  me  strength  to  kill  you 
even  if  I  am  a  little  boy,  for  God  is  on  our  side.” 

David  quickly  took  a  stone  from  his  bag,  fastened  it 
in  the  sling,  and  threw  it  with  all  his  might.  The  stone 
struck  the  giant  right  in  the  middle  of  his  forehead,  and 
it  hurt  him  so  much  that  he  fell  down  upon  the  ground. 
What  a  noise  it  made  when  that  big  man,  with  his  heavy 
spear  and  sword  and  shield,  and  his  steel  coat  and  brass 
helmet  all  fell  on  the  ground  together! 

David  ran  over  to  where  Goliath  fell,  stooped  down, 
and  pulled  the  giant’s  own  sword  out  of  its  case.  It 
was  very  heavy  but  David  pulled  hard.  And  with 
that  big  sword  he  cut  off  the  giants’  head. 

The  Philistine  soldiers  were  so  much  suprised  to  see 
that  little  boy  go  out  to  fight  Goliath,  that  they  all  stood 

108 


THE  SHEPHERD  KING 


still  to  watch  him.  But  when  they  saw  that  their  great 
man  was  dead,  they  all  ran  away.  The  soldiers  of 
Israel  shouted  for  joy,  and  chased  them  far  out  of  the 
country;  and  that  was  the  end  of  the  war. 

David  went  back  to  the  camp,  and  Saul  said  to  him: 
“Who  are  you?  and  what  is  your  father’s  name?’’ 

“I  am  David,’’  said  the  boy.  “My  father’s  name 
is  Jesse,  and  we  live  in  Bethlehem.’’ 

Saul  liked  David,  and  he  sent  word  to  Jesse  that  he 
wanted  David  to  stay  with  him.  David  had  a  very 
sweet  voice,  and  could  sing  many  songs,  and  they  some¬ 
times  called  him  the  sweet  singer  of  Israel.  He  could 
play  on  the  harp  very  well,  and  whenever  Saul  was 
tired  or  worried,  he  asked  David  to  play  and  sing  for 
him. 

Now  King  Saul  had  a  son  whose  name  was  Prince 
Jonathan,  and  Jonathan  and  David  soon  were  the  best 
friends.  In  those  old  times  when  a  king  or  a  prince 
loved  any  one  very  much  and  wanted  him  for  a  friend, 
the  king  or  the  prince  took  off  something  of  his  own  and 
gave  it  to  the  friend.  Do  you  remember  how  that  good 
king  Pharaoh  took  off  his  gold  chain  from  his  own  neck 
and  gave  it  to  Joseph?  So,  Prince  Jonathan  took  off 

109 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


his  fine  cloak,  and  gave  it  to  David,  and  also  gave  him 
his  sword  and  belt,  and  his  bow  and  arrows.  And 
they  promised  each  other  always  to  be  friends. 

David  obeyed  Saul  and  behaved  so  well  that  Saul 
made  him  a  captain  in  the  army.  It  did  not  take  long 
before  the  soldiers  loved  Captain  David  more  than  they 
did  King  Saul.  This  made  Saul  angry,  and  one  day 
when  David  was  playing  on  the  harp  and  singing,  Saul 
threw  his  spear  at  David  and  nearly  hit  him.  If  that 
heavy  spear  had  hit  David,  it  might  have  killed  him. 
David  left  the  room  and  went  to  look  for  Jonathan. 

After  David  told  Jonathan  all  about  it,  he  asked: 
“What  have  I  done  that  King  Saul  wants  to  hurt  me? 
He  might  have  killed  me  with  that  spear.” 

“I  am  sure,”  said  Jonathan,  “that  my  father  does 
not  want  to  kill  you.  Is  there  anything  I  can  do  for 
you?” 

“I  will  not  go  back  to  the  palace  now,”  David  said, 
“but  I  want  to  stay  with  you  for  a  few  days.  I  want 
you  to  talk  to  your  father  about  me,  and  then  tell  me 
what  he  says,  I  think  King  Saul  does  not  like  me  any 
more.” 

“I  have  often  told  you,  David,”  said  Jonathan, 

110 


DAVID  PLAYING  THE  HARP  BEFORE  KING  SAUL 


THE  SHEPHERD  KING 


“that  I  love  you  and  will  always  be  your  friend.  True 
friends  always  try  to  help  each  other,  and  I  will  help 
you  all  I  can.” 

Jonathan  went  to  his  father,  and  told  him  David 
was  going  away.  He  begged  his  father  to  tell  David 
to  come  back,  and  said:  “I  love  David  and  he  is  good 
and  kind.  I  beg  you  to  send  for  him  to  stay  here.” 

But  Saul  would  not,  and  Jonathan  was  very  unhappy 
when  he  left  his  father’s  room.  He  did  not  like  to  tell 
David  that  Saul  did  not  like  him  any  more,  but  he  had 
to  do  so.  And  when  David  went  away,  Jonathan  and 
David  kissed  each  other  many  times,  and  both  of  them 
were  very  sad  to  think  they  would  not  see  each  other 
again. 

The  neighboring  tribes  always  gave  Saul  much 
trouble,  and  after  David  went  away,  another  war  be¬ 
gan.  And  in  one  of  the  battles,  both  Saul  and  Jonathan 
were  killed. 

When  the  news  was  told  to  David,  he  was  very 
sorry,  for  he  knew  that  now  he  would  never  see  his  dear 
friend  Jonathan  any  more.  David  wrote  some  very 
nice  verses  about  his  friend.  They  are  in  the  Bible, 

in  the  part  called  “The  Second  Book  of  Samuel.” 

Ill 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


David  was  now  the  real  king  of  Israel.  He  soon 
stopped  all  the  wars.  He  began  to  build  a  city,  the 
city  of  Jerusalem,  and  he  sent  for  all  the  people  of  Israel 
to  come  there  to  live.  He  taught  them  how  to  pray, 
and  he  was  the  first  man  who  thought  of  building  a 
Temple.  David  had  wished  to  build  a  great  temple 
in  Jerusalem,  but  he  did  not  live  long  enough.  His 
son  Solomon  built  it  afterwards. 

When  David  was  quite  an  old  man,  he  said  he  was 
tired  of  being  king.  He  wanted  his  son  Solomon  to  be 
king  instead  of  him.  But  David  had  another  son  named 
Absalom.  Absalom  wanted  to  be  the  king,  so  he 
called  all  his  friends  together  and  said:  “My  father 
is  too  old  to  be  king  any  longer.  Would  you  like  to 
have  me  for  your  king?” 

Absalom  was  a  very  handsome  young  man,  with 
big  blue  eyes  and  golden  curls  that  came  down  to  his 
shoulders.  All  the  men  who  came  to  the  meeting  were 
his  friends. 

“Yes,”  said  the  men,  “we  want  you  for  our  king, 
because  King  David  is  too  old.” 

Absalom  said:  “Then  go  all  through  the  land,  and 
say  to  every  one  you  meet  ‘Absalom  is  king.’  ” 

112 


THE  SHEPHERD  KING 


When  David  heard  about  this,  he  was  very  angry, 
for  David  had  said  Solomon  was  to  be  king,  and  now 
Absalom  had  disobeyed  him.  So  David  called  his 
soldiers  out,  told  them  to  look  for  Absalom  and  his 
friends,  and  bring  them  back  as  prisoners.  It  was  a 
very  large  company  of  soldiers  that  David  sent  to  look 
for  Absalom  and  his  friends,  and  they  found  Absalom 
in  a  thick  forest. 

When  Absalom  saw  his  father’s  soldiers  coming  in¬ 
to  the  woods  where  he  was  hiding,  Absalom  was 
frightened.  When  he  saw  how  all  his  friends  were 
caught  and  made  prisoners  he  was  badly  scared.  He 
knew  how  wicked  he  had  been,  and  he  was  afraid  to 
be  taken  prisoner,  and  brought  back  to  the  king.  He 
saw  a  mule  tied  to  a  tree  near  him.  He  untied  the  rope 
and  jumped  on  his  back.  He  thought  he  could  ride 
away  so  fast,  that  the  soldiers  could  not  catch  him. 

And  then  a  dreadful  thing  happened.  You  know 
Absalom  had  long,  curly  hair,  and  when  he  was  riding 
so  fast  his  hair  flew  back  in  the  wind.  As  he  was  riding 
along  his  hair  caught  in  the  branch  of  a  tree.  It  pulled 
him  off  the  mule  so  roughly  that  it  broke  his  neck! 

Wasn’t  that  horrible?  And  yet  Absalom  deserved 

113 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


the  punishment  because  he  did  very  wrong.  First,  he 
disobeyed  his  father’s  wishes,  for  he  knew  that  his 
father  wished  Solomon  to  be  king.  Then  he  called 
all  his  friends  to  help  him  fight  against  his  father. 
When  the  soldiers  came  back  and  told  King  David, 
he  cried  and  sobbed  to  think  that  his  son  Absalom 
whom  he  loved  so  much,  was  dead. 


114 


XV 


THE  WISE  KING 

SOLOMON 

| 

From  the  time  that  Solomon  was  a  small  boy,  his 
father,  King  David,  made  him  study,  and  Solomon 
loved  to  learn.  He  learned  to  read  and  write  and 
spell  just  like  any  other  little  boy.  When  he  was 
older  he  studied  all  about  the  sun  and  moon  and  stars, 
and  about  rocks  and  trees  and  flowers ,  and  about 
animals  and  birds  and  insects. 

One  night  Solomon  had  a  strange  dream.  He 
dreamed  that  he  heard  the  Voice  of  God  saying: 
“Ask  for  something  that  I  shall  give  you.” 

And  Solomon  answered:  “You  were  good  to  my 
father  David,  and  you  have  been  good  to  me.  I  am 
king  now,  but  sometimes  I  feel  like  a  little  child  who 
cannot  understand  things.  I  want  to  be  a  good  king 
to  my  people,  so  I  beg  this  of  you.  Make  me  wise. 
Give  me  wisdom  to  rule  the  people  well,  and  to  judge 

115 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


for  them.  And  teach  me  to  know  the  difference  be¬ 
tween  right  and  wrong.  This  is  all  I  ask.” 

Solomon  might  have  wished  for  all  kinds  of  nice 
things,  but  you  see,  all  he  asked  for  was  wisdom. 
That  pleased  God,  who  said:  “Because  you  wished 
for  wisdom,  when  you  might  have  wished  for  money 
or  long  life  or  many  other  things,  I  will  give  you  your 
wish.  I  will  give  you  a  wise  heart  and  head  to  under¬ 
stand  all  things.  I  will  also  give  you  the  things  you 
did  not  ask  for — I  will  give  you  riches  and  honor  and 
greatness.” 

This  was  Solomon’s  dream,  but  it  all  came  true. 
God  made  Solomon  so  wise  that  he  understood  what 
the  little  birds  said  when  they  chirped  or  sang  in  their 
pretty  nests  in  the  trees,  and  he  understood  what  the 
animals  said  when  they  roared  or  growled  or  cried  out. 
He  also  knew  what  the  trees  were  saying  when  the 
little  leaves  shook  and  when  the  big  branches  swung 
up  and  down  in  the  wind. 

Solomon  was  a  very  wise  judge.  A  judge  is  a  man 
who  settles  any  quarrel.  When  some  men  had  a  quar¬ 
rel,  about  cattle  or  houses  or  lands  they  owned,  if  they 
could  not  agree,  they  went  to  Solomon  and  told  him. 

116 


“OH,  GREAT  KING,  DO  NOT  CUT  MY  CHILD  IN  TWO,” 
CRIED  THE  REAL  MOTHER  TO  SOLOMON 


r 


* 


THE  WISE  KING 


Solomon  listened  to  them  quietly,  settled  the  business 
for  them,  and  the  men  went  home  perfectly  satisfied. 

Once  two  women  quarreled.  Each  woman  had  a 
little  baby,  but  afterwards,  one  baby  was  taken  sick 
and  died.  The  woman  whose  baby  died,  wanted  a 
little  baby  so  much,  that  she  took  the  baby  that  belonged 
to  the  other  woman,  and  she  kept  it.  She  would  not 
give  it  back  to  its  own  mother.  After  they  had  quar¬ 
reled  a  long  time  about  it,  the  real  mother  said  they 
should  take  the  baby  to  King  Solomon,  and  let  him 
settle  it. 

When  they  stood  before  the  king,  each  woman  said 
“this  is  my  baby.”  Solomon  sent  for  a  soldier,  and 
when  he  came,  Solomon  said:  “Take  your  sword. 
Cut  the  baby  in  two  pieces,  and  give  a  piece  to  each 
woman.” 

One  woman  cried  out:  “Oh,  great  king,  do  not 
cut  my  little  child  in  two.  Give  it  to  that  woman.  1 
would  rather  give  her  my  own  dear  baby,  than  let  your 
soldier  hurt  it.” 

The  other  woman  said.  “Great  king,  you  may  cut 
the  child  in  two  pieces  if  you  want  to.  I  don’t  care.” 

Which  woman  do  you  think  was  the  real  mother? 

117 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


Yes,  the  woman  who  would  not  let  them  hurt  the  baby. 
And  Solomon  gave  her  the  little  child,  and  punished 
the  other  woman. 

Now  I  will  tell  you  about  the  wonderful  temple  that 
King  Solomon  gave  orders  to  build,  which  is  still  called 
‘"The  Temple  of  Solomon.” 

Solomon  loved  God  very  much,  and  he  wanted  this 
temple  to  be  the  most  beautiful  thing  that  ever  was 
made.  So  he  sent  men  all  through  the  forests  for  wood. 
He  told  them  to  cut  down  the  largest  and  finest  trees 
they  could  find — cedar  trees,  fir  trees,  and  olive  trees 
— and  bring  them  back  to  the  city.  He  sent  other 
men  to  the  mountains,  to  dig  out  great  rocks  of  granite 
and  marble  and  onyx,  and  bring  them  into  the  city. 
And  other  men  were  sent  to  the  mines,  to  get  gold  and 
silver  and  copper  and  precious  stones. 

Then  they  began  to  build  this  great  House  of  God. 
They  took  the  largest  rocks,  cut  them  into  big,  smooth 
blocks,  and  used  them  for  the  cellar  and  the  outside 
walls.  They  used  the  fine  wood  for  the  roof  and 
doors  and  window-frames.  The  windows  were  made 
of  colored  glass,  and  they  had  every  pretty  color  you 
can  think  of.  The  pillars,  that  is,  the  posts  that  held 

118 


THE  WISE  KING 


the  roof  up — were  made  out  of  pure  white  marble  and 
onyx.  All  the  decorations  or  trimmings  in  the  whole 
building,  were  made  out  of  real  gold  and  silver. 

The  altar  was  made  of  cedar-wood  and  then  covered 
with  gold.  The  ark  that  held  the  Holy  Law  was  made 
of  gold  and  precious  stones.  The  altar  was  separated 
from  the  rest  of  the  temple  by  heavy  chains  of  solid 
gold.  On  the  ceiling,  and  on  all  the  doors,  were  fine 
pictures  cut  into  the  wood.  This  is  called  carving,  and 
the  carvings  in  the  temple  were  of  angels  and  flowers, 
and  everything  was  ornamented  with  gold.  It  took 
seven  years  to  build  the  temple. 

When  the  temple  was  finished,  King  Solomon  sent 
for  all  the  chiefs  and  captains  and  all  the  people  of 
Israel,  to  come  to  Jerusalem  to  dedicate  the  temple. 
(To  dedicate  a  temple  means  to  ask  God  to  bless  the 
temple,  and  to  bless  all  the  people  who  come  there  to 
pray  and  to  worship  God.) 

When  all  the  people  came,  Solomon  prayed  an  earnest 
prayer  to  God.  He  asked  God  to  take  care  of  the  temple, 
and  to  watch  over  all  the  people,  and  to  make  the 
leaders  good  and  brave. 

When  Solomon  had  finished  this  prayer,  he  blessed 

119 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


the  whole  congregation  and  said:  “May  the  Lord, 
our  God,  be  with  us,  as  He  always  was  with  our  fathers. 
May  we  always  love  Him,  and  may  He  ever  help  us 
to  keep  His  commandments.  And  may  all  the  people 
in  the  whole  world  know,  that  the  Lord  is  God,  and 
there  is  no  other  God.” 

Every  one  left  the  temple  after  Solomon  ended  the 
blessing.  But  they  did  not  go  to  their  homes  because 
the  king  had  invited  them  to  a  great  feast.  All  the 
people  stayed  in  Jerusalem  the  rest  of  that  day,  and  all 
were  happy  and  contented. 

King  Solomon  was  the  richest  man  in  the  world. 
Besides  the  wonderful  temple  that  he  built,  he  built 
a  fine  palace  for  himself  out  of  pure  white  marble,  and 
he  built  a  magnificent  court-house.  He  also  built  a 
high  stone  wall  around  the  city  of  Jerusalem.  He  owned 
many  cities  and  many  ships  that  sailed  on  the  sea. 

Everybody  in  that  part  of  the  world  had  heard  about 
Solomon,  and  the  wise  things  that  he  did.  Many  people 
came  to  visit  him  just  to  see  if  what  they  had  heard  was 
true.  And  these  people  brought  with  them  many  presents 
made  of  silver  and  gold  and  jewels  for  the  king.  Three 
times  a  year  King  Solomon  himself  offered  sacrifices 

120 


THE  WISE  KING 


in  the  court-yard  of  the  temple,  and  thousands  of  people 
came  there  to  worship  God. 

In  a  country  very  far  away  from  Jerusalem,  there 
lived  a  queen,  beautiful  and  rich  and  wise  and  good. 
She  was  the  Queen  of  Sheba,  and  many  people  had 
heard  of  her  and  traveled  in  her  country.  They  told 
of  all  the  wonderful  things  that  Solomon  had  done, 
what  a  good,  wise  king  he  was,  and  how  he  loved  and 
worshiped  God.  The  Queen  of  Sheba  wanted  to  find 
out  if  all  these  things  were  true,  so  she  made  up  her 
mind  to  go  and  visit  King  Solomon. 

She  told  her  officers  to  get  gold  and  jewels  for  presents 
to  take  with  her.  The  servants  brought  a  long  train 
of  camels,  they  were  loaded  with  all  that  was  needed 
for  the  journey,  and  they  started  for  Jerusalem.  It  was 
a  very  long  way,  and  they  had  to  ride  many  miles 
through  a  hot,  dry,  sandy  desert,  where  there  were  no 
trees,  nor  grass,  nor  water,  nothing  but  the  hot  sun  and 
the  sandy  ground. 

At  last,  they  reached  Jerusalem.  They  saw  the  great 
wall,  the  wonderful  temple,  and  all  the  other  fine  build¬ 
ings.  And  at  a  distance,  Solomon’s  marble  palace  shone 

in  the  sunshine  like  diamonds.  Solomon  came  to  the 

121 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


gates  of  the  city  to  meet  the  queen,  and  he  showed  her 
everything  she  wanted  to  see.  He  invited  her  to  come 
to  his  palace  and  stay  there  as  long  as  she  liked. 

She  went  to  the  palace,  and  saw  the  king’s  throne 
that  was  made  out  of  ivory  and  gold,  and  the  golden 

chairs.  She  looked  through  the  finely-painted  windows, 
each  one  different  from  the  other,  and  all  of  them  were 

painted  in  many  colors.  When  they  sat  down  to  dinner 
in  the  marble  dining-hall,  the  queen  saw  that  all  the 
dishes  and  spoons  and  knives  and  forks  were  made  of 
pure  gold. 

After  the  meal  was  over,  Solomon  took  the  queen 
into  the  temple,  and  she  saw  that  everything  was  true 
that  she  had  heard.  When  they  were  going  out  of  the 
temple  into  the  court-yard,  the  queen  noticed  a  brass 
trumpet  that  was  as  long  as  the  side  of  a  small  house. 
She  stood  still  before  it,  and  said:  “I  did  not  hear 
about  this.  Is  it  a  trumpet?  What  is  the  good  of  it?” 

“No  one  knows  how  good  it  is,  and  no  one  knows 
how  much  good  it  does.”  said  Solomon. 

“Why,  what  do  you  mean?”  said  the  queen.  “How 
can  a  trumpet  do  any  good?” 

Solomon  answered:  “You  have  seen  many  beauti- 

122 


r 


THE  WISE  KING 


ful  things  that  have  cost  much  money,  and  you  have 
met  very  many  rich  people  here  in  Jerusalem.  But  there 
are  very  many  poor  people  here,  too.  Long  ago,  when 
Moses  made  laws  for  the  children  of  Israel,  he  said 
the  rich  people  must  help  the  poor.  Moses  said:  ‘We 
must  give  all  that  we  can  to  the  poor;  not  because  we 
think  we  are  doing  a  good  deed,  but  because  it  is  right 
for  us  to  help  them.’  That  is  why  I  had  this  trumpet 
made  and  placed  here.” 

Solomon  then  told  the  queen  how  the  trumpet  had 
been  made,  and  said:  ‘‘The  rich  person  stands  in  front 
of  the  great  mouth  of  the  trumpet,  and  puts  in  some  money 
or  food  or  clothing  or  anything  he  wants  to  give  away. 
The  different  things  slide  down  the  trumpet  to  the  small 
end,  where  the  poor  people  stand.  Each  one  gets  his 
turn,  and  takes  out  the  things  that  the  rich  men  put  into 
the  large  end.  The  trumpet  was  made  so  wide  at  the 
large  end  that  the  rich  people  cannot  see  the  poor  ones, 
and  the  poor  ones  never  know  who  gave  them  help.” 

‘‘Indeed  you  are  a  great  and  wise  king,”  said  the 
queen.  ‘‘I  did  not  believe  half  of  what  they  told  me 
about  you,  but  now  I  know  how  good  you  are.  There 
were  many  good  and  wise  things  you  do  that 

123 


no  one 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


told  me,  because  they  did  not  know.  Ah!  Solomon, 
how  happy  your  people  must  be  with  such  a  king  to 
rule  over  them.” 

When,  in  a  few  days,  the  Queen  of  Sheba  said  she 
must  go  home,  Solomon  gave  her  so  many  presents  that 
her  camels  had  very  heavy  loads  to  carry.  After  the 
queen  said  good-bye  to  King  Solomon,  she  held  his 
hand  and  said:  “I  have  been  thinking  about  it,  and  I 
know  now  why  you  are  so  rich.  It  is  because  you  are 
wise,  and  know  how  to  rule  the  people.  It  is  because 
you  love  your  God  and  pray  to  Him.  That  is  the  reason 
why  He  has  always  helped  you,  and  blessed  you.” 


124 


XVI 


THE  MAN  OF  GOD 

DANIEL 

You  have  surely  all  seen  that  old  picture  of  a  man 
in  a  cage  full  of  lions,  where  the  lions  did  not  hurt  the 
man  at  all.  The  name  of  the  picture  is:  “Daniel  in 
the  Lions’  Den.”  Did  you  not  know  the  story  about 
it  is  in  the  Bible?  Well,  it  is,  and  there  are  other  things 
about  that  same  Daniel,  which  you  shall  hear  now. 

There  was  a  country  called  Babylon,  and  the  king 
of  that  country  was  named  Nebuchadnezzar.  (Isn’t  that 
a  pretty  hard  name?)  There  had  been  a  war,  and  Neb¬ 
uchadnezzar  took  many  men  as  his  prisoners.  Daniel 
was  one  of  the  prisoners.  Daniel  had  three  friends  who 
were  also  taken  prisoners.  The  king  soon  found  out 
that  Daniel  and  his  friends  were  all  wise  men  who  had 
studied  and  learned  very  much,  so  he  gave  orders  to  the 
captain  of  his  guards  to  be  kind  to  them. 

But  though  these  men  were  prisoners,  the  king  often 

125 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


sent  for  them  when  he  was  bothered  about  something, 
so  that  they  might  tell  him  what  to  do.  You  remember 
how  Joseph  used  to  explain  dreams,  and  Daniel  could 
do  the  same  thing.  One  night  the  king  had  a  dream. 
In  the  morning  when  he  awoke,  he  had  forgotten  what 
the  dream  was.  He  tried  to  think  about  it  but  he  could 
not  remember  anything,  except  that  it  was  a  dream  he 
did  not  understand,  and  it  worried  him. 

All  the  kings  used  to  have  wise  men  to  explain  their 
dreams,  so  Nebuchadnezzar  sent  for  his  wise  men. 
When  they  were  all  in  the  palace  the  king  said:  “I 
had  a  dream  last  night,  so  I  sent  for  you  to  explain  it.” 

“What  was  your  dream,  great  king?”  asked  the  wise 
men.  “Tell  us  so  that  we  can  explain  it.” 

“Oh,”  answered  the  king,  “I  have  forgotten  what 
the  dream  was.” 

“But,  great  king,  how  can  we  explain  the  dream  if 
you  cannot  tell  us  what  is  was?  Please  try  to  think.” 

“I  cannot  think,”  said  the  king.  “You  say  you  are 
wise  men,  and  if  you  cannot  tell  me  what  my  dream 
was  I  will  not  have  you  any  more.  So  you  may  go  and 
I  will  give  an  order  to  my  officers  to  drive  all  the  wise 
men  out  of  my  country.” 


126 


THE  MAN  OF  GOD 


The  king  gave  this  foolish  order,  and  the  officers 
went  to  Daniel  and  his  friends,  because  they  were  wise 
men,  too.  They  told  Daniel  the  king  had  commanded 
that  all  the  wise  men  must  be  sent  out  of  the  land. 
Daniel  said  to  the  officers:  “Do  not  do  this  now.  Do 
not  send  us  away  yet.  Let  me  speak  to  the  king  first. 
Ask  him  if  I  may  go  to  him  tomorrow  morning.” 

After  the  officers  had  gone  away,  Daniel  said  to 
his  friends:  “If  God  does  not  help  us  now,  the  king 
will  drive  us  away  out  into  the  desert.  So  let  us  all  pray 
tonight  to  God.  Let  us  ask  Him  to  watch  over  us  and 
take  care  of  us.  Let  us  thank  God  for  all  His  goodness 
to  us,  and  for  the  wisdom  He  gave  us.” 

Daniel’s  friends  went  to  their  own  rooms,  and  when 
Daniel  was  alone  he  prayed  to  God  again,  and  said: 
“Oh  God,  I  pray  you,  give  me  the  same  dream  tonight 
that  Nebuchadnezzar  had  last  night,  and  then  I  can 
explain  it  to  the  king.” 

And  God  loved  Daniel  and  answered  his  prayer,  and 
that  night  Daniel  dreamed  the  same  dream  that  the  king 
had  dreamed  the  night  before.  When  Daniel  awoke 
the  next  morning  his  first  thought  was  of  God,  and  he 
said:  “I  thank  you  and  praise  you,  God  of  my  fathers, 

127 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


1 


for  your  goodness  to  me,  and  because  you  sent  me  this 
dream.  Now  I  can  tell  it  to  the  king  and  nothing  will 
happen  to  the  wise  men  of  Babylon,  nor  to  my  friends.” 

The  officer  that  Daniel  had  sent  to  the  king,  now 
came  again  and  told  Daniel  to  go  to  the  palace,  for  the 
king  wanted  him.  Soon  Daniel  stood  before  the  king 
who  said:  “Can  you  tell  me  what  my  dream  was,  and 
can  you  explain  it?” 

“No,  king,”  said  Daniel.  “I  cannot,  but  my  God 
can.” 

“What  do  you  mean?”  asked  the  king,  and  Daniel 
said:  “There  are  many  things  that  no  one  can  explain — 
neither  the  wise  men,  nor  the  teachers,  nor  the  priests. 
But  there  is  a  God  in  heaven,  who  has  helped  me  under¬ 
stand  your  dream  and  now  I  can  explain  it  to  you.” 

For  a  moment  Daniel  was  still.  Then  he  said:  “You 
dreamed  you  saw  a  statue  or  image  of  a  gieat,  tall  man. 
The  head  was  made  of  gold,  the  breast  and  arms  were 
silver,  the  body  was  brass,  the  legs  were  iron,  and  the  feet 
were  clay.  Suddenly  a  heavy  stone  fell  through  the  air, 
and  hit  the  statue  on  the  feet.  The  feet  were  made  of 
clay  and  when  the  stone  struck  them  they  broke  to  pieces, 

just  like  a  cup  would  break.  Then  the  great  big  statue 

128 


DANIEL  IN  THE  DEN  OF  WILD  LIONS 


THE  MAN  OF  GOD 


fell  down,  and  was  broken  and  bent  and  spoiled.  And 
in  the  dream  you  saw  how  the  stone  was  changed  into  a 
high  mountain.” 

“Yes,”  answered  King  Nebuchadnezzar,  “that  was 
my  dream;  and  now  tell  me  quickly  what  it  all  means, 
for  I  do  not  know.” 

“O  king,”  said  Daniel,  “the  meaning  is  plain.  The 
golden  head  means  you,  for  that  was  the  best  part  of  the 
whole  statue.  You  are  a  good  king  and  you  know  how 
to  govern  the  people,  and  your  country  is  fine.  After 
you  are  dead,  there  will  be  many  other  kings,  but  none 
of  them  will  be  good.  In  the  statue  that  you  saw  in  your 
dream,  the  silver  came  next  to  the  gold.  Silver  is  not 
as  good  as  gold,  and  the  next  king  after  you  will  not  be 
as  good  as  you.  Next  to  the  silver  came  the  brass,  and 
then  the  iron,  and  last  of  all  the  clay.  The  brass  and 
iron  and  clay  mean  other  kings,  each  one  worse  than 
the  other,  and  at  last,  just  like  the  stone  broke  the  clay 
feet  and  ruined  the  statue,  this  whole  land  will  be 
ruined.” 

“But,”  said  the  king,  “what  does  the  stone  mean, 
and  why  did  it  grow  to  be  a  mountain?” 

“The  stone  means  the  people  of  Israel.  There  are 

129 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


l 


not  very  many  of  them  here  now,  but  there  will  be  more 
and  more,  and  when  they  are  strong  enough  they  will 
fight  the  people  who  always  trouble  them.  When  that 
time  comes,  they  will  conquer  all  their  enemies  and 
be  as  strong  as  a  mountain.  Then  they  will  teach  the 
world  about  the  One,  true  God.” 

“Your  God  is  a  great  God,”  said  the  king  slowly, 
“and  He  made  you  very  wise.  I  will  make  you  ruler 
of  one  of  my  countries,  and  I  will  make  your  three 
friends  rulers  too.” 

Time  passed  on,  and  Nebuchadnezzar  was  taken  sick. 
He  could  not  rule  over  his  land  any  more,  so  they  had 
another  king.  The  new  king’s  name  was  Darius,  and 
he  loved  Daniel  so  much,  that  he  made  him  the  chief 
over  all  the  princes  and  officers.  Of  course,  the  princes 
and  high  officers  did  not  like  this,  and  they  wished  they 
knew  something  bad  about  Daniel  to  tell  the  king. 

Daniel  was  so  good  that  they  could  not  find  anything 
bad  to  tell,  and  they  were  afraid  to  make  up  a  story, 
because  they  knew  the  king  would  punish  them  for  tell¬ 
ing  him  something  that  was  not  true.  These  men  all 
knew  that  Daniel  prayed  to  God  three  times  a  day — 

at  morning,  at  noon,  and  at  night.  They  knew  too,  that 

130 


THE  MAN  OF  GOD 


Daniel  loved  God  more  than  he  loved  the  king  or  any 
one  else  in  the  world. 

So  they  went  to  King  Darius  with  a  plan.  They 
talked  to  the  king  about  it  so  much  that  he  made  this  si  lly 
law :  for  thirty  days  no  one  was  allowed  to  pray  to  God. 
Whoever  did  pray  during  this  time,  was  to  be  thrown 
into  a  cage  or  den  of  wild  lions.  Everyone  obeyed  this 
law  except  Daniel.  You  see,  that  was  what  those  bad 
men  wanted — to  get  Daniel  into  trouble.  They  were 
sure  Daniel  would  not  obey  such  a  law,  and  they  thought 
that  was  a  good  way  to  make  Darius  angry  at  Daniel. 

Just  as  if  there  was  no  new  law  about  praying,  Daniel 
kept  on  like  he  did  before,  and  prayed  three  times  every 
day.  When  the  officers  heard  about  it  they  went  to 
the  palace  and  told  the  king.  Darius  was  very  sorry 
because  he  loved  Daniel,  but  he  was  very  angry  too, 
to  think  that  Daniel  did  not  obey  the  law.  So  he  said: 
“Take  him  tonight  and  throw  him  into  the  lions’  den. 
We  will  see  if  his  God  will  save  him.” 

So  Daniel  was  pushed  into  the  cage  of  wild  lions, 
and  the  gate  of  the  cage  was  locked.  The  king  could 
not  sleep  that  night  because  he  was  so  sorry  about  Daniel, 

and  so  sure  the  lions  would  eat  him  up. 

131 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 

In  the  morning,  very  early,  the  king  went  to  see  what 
had  happened.  And  what  do  you  think?  There  was 
Daniel,  safe  and  sound,  lying  by  the  lions  who  were 
all  fast  asleep! 

And  the  king  said:  “And  your  God  took  care  of 
you  after  all.” 

“King  Darius,”  answered  Daniel,  “God  is  greater 
than  any  king.  In  the  night  He  sent  an  angel  to  watch 
over  me.  When  the  lions  saw  the  angel  they  became 
tame  and  did  not  hurt  me.  Then  they  went  to  sleep.” 

The  king  was  very  glad  and  took  Daniel  back  to 
the  palace  with  him,  and  said  he  should  always  stay 
there.  He  also  punished  the  bad  officers  who  had  told 
him  to  make  such  a  stupid  and  wicked  law.  Then  the 
king  thought  of  something  he  could  do  to  make  Daniel 
happy.  He  knew  how  dearly  Daniel  loved  God  and 
he  had  seen  for  himself  how  God  watched  over  Dan¬ 
iel. 

King  Darius  called  all  the  people  together  to  a  big 
meeting.  He  told  them  what  a  great  God  there  is 
in  heaven  above  us,  and  how  good  He  is  to  all  who 
love  Him.  And  Daniel  taught  the  people  how  to  pray 
and  love  God. 


132 


XVII 


THE  STORY  OF  CHANUKKAH 

JUDAS  MACCABBEUS 

It  was  many  hundred  years  after  King  Solomon  built 
the  beautiful  Temple  in  Jerusalem.  All  the  Jews  in 
the  land  went  to  the  Temple  on  Saturdays  and  holy 
days,  to  pray  to  God,  to  thank  Him  for  His  goodness, 
and  to  ask  Him  to  take  care  of  them.  While  Solomon 
lived  the  people  were  happy,  because  he  was  a  wise 
and  good  king.  Things  were  different  after  he  died, 
and  there  were  ether  kings  who  were  not  so  wise  and 
good  as  Solomon. 

Often  there  was  trouble  for  the  Jews  from  the  people 
who  lived  in  other  countries.  These  other  people  some¬ 
times  had  a  wicked  king  who  liked  to  fight,  and  there 
were  many  wars.  Some  kings  were  not  kind  to  the 
Jews  and  they  were  unhappy. 

One  king  was  very  cruel.  His  name  was  Antiochus 
( An-ti-o-chus) .  He  lived  in  a  country  called  Syria. 

133 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


He  did  so  many  wicked  things  that  he  was  called  the 
madman.  Antiochus  did  not  pray  to  the  One  God,  as 
we  do;  he  prayed  to  idols.  An  idol  is  an  image  which 
is  made  of  wood,  or  stone,  or  iron.  Sometimes  it  is  in 
the  shape  of  a  man,  and  sometimes  it  is  like  an  animal, 
or  like  a  bird.  King  Antiochus  bowed  and  prayed  to 
his  stupid  images,  and  his  people  all  did  the  same.  All 
the  people  except  the  Jews,  who  knew  better.  The 
Jews  prayed  to  God. 

The  king  ordered  the  Jews  to  pray  to  the  idols,  like 
the  others  did.  When  they  said  they  would  not  bow 
to  idols,  the  king  sent  an  army  of  soldiers  to  fight  them. 
The  king  had  so  many  soldiers,  that  they  drove  almost 
all  of  the  Jews  out  of  Jerusalem.  When  the  poor  Jews 
were  gone,  the  soldiers  climbed  up  the  hill  to  where  the 
wonderful  Temple  stood.  They  went  into  the  Temple, 
took  all  the  beautiful  gold  and  silver  ornaments  and 
everything  else  that  was  in  the  Temple,  and  carried  all 
away.  Nothing  was  left  but  the  roof  and  the  walls. 

Then  some  of  the  soldiers  went  off  to  find  pigs,  and 
when  they  had  a  big  drove  of  them,  they  brought  them 
to  the  Temple  and  chased  them  in.  Do  you  know  why 
they  did  this?  For  this  reason:  They  knew  the  Jews 

134 


THE  STORY  OF  CHANNUKAH 


hated  pigs  because  they  are  so  dirty.  I  am  sure  you 
can  imagine  how  angry,  and  sorry,  and  unhappy  the 
Jews  were  when  they  heard  that  their  loved  Temple  was 
full  of  pigs!  Then  Antiochus  did  another  dreadful 
thing.  He  ordered  an  idol  set  up  in  a  public  place, 
where  all  the  people  passed  very  often,  and  he  said 
every  one  must  bow  to  it.  Wasn’t  that  wicked? 

A  few  miles  away  from  Jerusalem,  there  was  a  small 
town  called  Modin.  An  old  man  named  Mattathias 
(Mat-ta-thi-as)  lived  there.  He  had  five  splendid  sons, 
big,  and  brave,  and  good.  Mattathias  and  his  sons 
were  very  sorry  for  what  had  happened  in  Jerusalem, 
and  they  prayed  that  God  would  give  strength  to  the 
Jews  to  win  the  Temple  back  again. 

One  day  Mattathias  went  to  Jerusalem,  and  when  he 
saw  that  ugly  idol,  he  was  very  angry  at  the  king  who 
ordered  it  to  be  put  there  in  the  street.  While  he  was 
standing  near  it,  he  saw  a  Jewish  man  walk  past  the 
idol  and  bow  down  before  it.  Then  Mattathias  was 
more  angry  than  before.  He  struck  the  other  man  and 
said: 

“How  dare  you  bow  to  an  idol?  Do  you  not  know 
that  is  a  sin?  You  know  God  said  in  His  command- 

135 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


ments,  ‘Thou  shalt  have  no  other  God  but  me’,  and  yet 
you  do  this  wicked  thing.  You  ought  to  be  ashamed 
of  yourself.” 

Mattathias  would  not  stay  in  Jerusalem  any  longer. 
When  he  returned  to  his  home  in  Modin,  he  told  his 
sons  and  his  neighbors  what  had  happened.  They  were 
all  as  angry  as  Mattathias,  and  they  asked: 

‘‘What  are  you  going  to  do?  Tell  us  and  we  will 
help  you.” 

‘‘We  must  raise  an  army  of  Jews,”  said  Mattathias. 
“That  is  what  we  must  do  first;  and  when  we  have 
enough  men,  we  are  going  to  fight  the  soldiers  of  King 
Antiochus.  We  will  drive  them  out  of  Jerusalem,  for 
God  will  help  us.” 

44 Who  will  go  to  get  the  soldiers  for  us?”  said  one 
of  the  neighbors. 

“We  will  go,”  said  the  sons  of  Mattathias. 

They  did  as  they  said.  The  five  sons  went  in  dif¬ 
ferent  directions,  and  stopped  in  every  house  where 
Jews  were  living.  In  each  house,  the  men  were  ready 
to  go  to  fight  for  their  religion,  and  before  long  they 
had  quite  a  big  army. 

One  of  the  sons  of  Mattathias  was  named  Judas. 

136 


JUDAS  MACCABBEUS 

From  the  statue  by  Max  Kalish 


•*  .. 


THE  STORY  OF  CHANNUKAH 


He  was  a  big  and  handsome  man,  and  people  called 
him  the  Maccabbee,  which  means  Hammer.  He  was 
so  strong,  that  when  he  struck  anything  or  anybody,  it 
was  like  the  blow  of  a  hammer.  Everybody  loved 
him,  and  all  the  Jewish  soldiers  were  pleased  when 
Mattathias  said  Judas  would  be  general  of  the  army. 

Judas  Maccabbee  had  a  banner  made,  which  he  car¬ 
ried  into  every  fight.  On  the  banner  were  the  words 
“Mi  Cho-mo-cho  Bo-e-lim  Ado-noi,”  which  mean 
“Who  is  like  Thee,  O  God,  among  the  mighty?”  The 
first  letters  of  these  words,  in  the  Hebrew,  spell  MAC¬ 
CABBEE. 

When  his  army  saw  that  bright  banner  waving  ahead 
of  them,  they  followed  it  without  any  fear,  for  they 
knew  Judas  was  there  in  the  front  ranks.  On  the  road, 
they  met  many  of  the  king’s  soldiers,  and  several  small 
battles  were  fought  before  they  reached  Jerusalem.  A 
big  battle  was  fought  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem.  Judas 
Maccabbee  conquered  the  king’s  soldiers  and  drove 
them  out  far  past  the  city  gates.  Then  they  marched 
towards  the  Temple.  When  the  Jewish  soldiers  saw 
how  bad  everything  looked,  they  were  very  sad,  but 

Judas  said: 


137 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


“This  is  no  time  to  be  sad.  We  should  be  glad,  very 
glad.  I  am  glad  God  gave  us  strength  to  drive  away 
the  enemy.  I  am  glad  the  Temple  is  standing,  even 
if  it  is  empty  and  dirty.  And  I  am  glad  we  can  clean 
it  and  make  it  beautiful  again.” 

When  his  soldiers  saw  how  cheerful  Judas  was,  they 
smiled  at  him,  and  said: 

“We  are  glad  too,  and  we  will  all  work  hard  to 
make  this  House  of  God  look  like  it  did  before  King 
Antiochus  took  it  away  from  us.” 

You  cannot  imagine  how  busy  they  were  and  how 
hard  the  men  worked.  Some  brought  rakes  to  scrape 
the  dirt  from  the  walls  and  the  floor.  Some  brought 
spades  to  shovel  it  up,  and  others  brought  big  wooden 
boxes  to  carry  all  the  rubbish  away.  When  they  had 
done  all  this,  they  called  the  women  to  come  and  help 
them;  and  they  washed  the  windows,  and  cleaned  the 
walls,  and  scrubbed  the  floors,  till  everything  looked 
like  new.  When  all  was  in  good  order,  Judas  said 
they  must  dedicate  the  Temple  again,  just  as  King 
Solomon  had  dedicated  it  hundreds  of  years  before. 
(If  you  have  forgotten  what  “dedicate”  means,  turn 
back  to  page  119.) 


138 


THE  STORY  OF  CHANNUKAH 


A  lamp  was  hung  over  the  altar  in  the  Temple. 
Judas  filled  it  with  oil  and  lit  it.  Then  he  sent  some 
soldiers  around  the  country  to  all  the  Jews,  and  told 
them  the  Temple  was  ready  for  them  to  come  and  pray 
to  God.  All  the  people  came.  They  thanked  God 
for  giving  them  strength  to  conquer  their  enemies;  they 
thanked  Him  for  giving  them  the  Temple,  where  they 
could  worship  the  One  true  God;  and  they  sang  songs 
of  praise  to  the  Father  in  Heaven  who  is  so  good  to 
all  His  children,  large  and  small. 

Then  Judas  said: 

“Year  after  year,  let  us  remember  this  day.  It  shall 
be  called  Chanukkah,  the  Feast  of  Lights.  Each  year, 
the  grown-up  people  must  tell  the  children  this  story  of 
how  God  helped  us  gain  a  victory,  and  of  how  brave 
the  Jews  are.  In  order  that  the  children  may  remem¬ 
ber  better,  it  will  be  a  good  idea  if  you  light  little  can¬ 
dles  in  your  homes  every  night  for  eight  nights.” 

Then  the  people  all  went  to  their  homes,  and  for 
eight  nights  they  lit  the  little  candles,  and  told  the 
children  the  story  of  Chanukkah. 

It  is  more  than  two  thousand  years  since  all  these 
things  took  place,  but  year  after  year,  in  December, 

139 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


when  Chanukkah  comes  round,  the  lights  are  burning 
in  many  Jewish  homes.  I  wish  they  could  be  lit  in 
every  home  and  for  every  child.  Then  you  would  re¬ 
member  the  heroes  who  fought  the  wicked  king’s  sol¬ 
diers.  Then  you  would  love  them  all,  Mattathias  and 
his  four  brave  sons,  and  the  great  hero,  Judas  Maccab- 
bee,  bravest  of  all. 


140 


XVIII 

THE  STORY  OF  PURIM 


QUEEN  ESTHER 

Once  upon  a  time,  in  the  city  of  Shushan,  in  Persia, 
there  was  a  young  Jewish  girl  named  Esther.  She  had 
no  dear  parents,  for  both  had  died  when  Esther  was 
very  small.  She  lived  with  her  cousin,  Mordecai,  who 
was  poor  and  could  not  give  her  any  nice  dresses  to 
wear.  Esther  was  a  very  pretty  girl.  She  had  two 
long,  thick  braids  of  hair,  which  hung  far  down  below 
her  waist ;  she  had  big  black  eyes,  and  the  whitest  teeth 
you  ever  saw. 

Mordecai  was  very  kind  to  the  little  girl  and  she  was 
happy.  She  never  thought  whether  her  dresses  were 
fine  or  plain,  and  she  did  not  care.  She  knew  her 

clothes  were  always  clean,  and  she  was  careful  to  keep 
them  so.  She  loved  Mordecai,  although  she  knew  he 
was  poor.  He  had  only  a  very  small  house,  but  the 
room  was  clean,  and  they  had  enough  to  eat,  and  had 
plenty  of  fresh  air. 


i 


;i 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


Their  small  cottage  was  on  a  side  street  in  the  city, 
and  not  very  far  away  on  a  fine,  wide  street,  was  the 
palace  where  the  king  of  Persia  lived.  The  king’s 
name  was  Ahasuerus.  That  is  a  long,  hard  name,  but 
I  think  you  can  read  it:  A-has-u-e-rus.  The  king’s 
palace  was  very  large  and  elegant,  and  was  built  out 
of  blocks  of  pure  white  marble.  The  palace  stood  in 
the  middle  of  a  garden,  and  all  kinds  of  trees  and  flow¬ 
ers  grew  in  it.  There  were  some  fountains  from  which 
the  water  spouted  up  into  the  air,  and  then  fell  back 
into  a  large  basin.  If  you  could  have  looked  into  the 
basin,  you  would  have  seen  many  little  fish  swimming 
around  all  the  time. 

There  was  a  high  wall  all  around  the  garden,  and 
there  was  a  heavy  gate  on  the  front  side,  near  which 
was  a  large  tree.  No  matter  how  hot  the  sun  shone,  it 
was  cool  and  shady  under  this  tree.  Mordecai  often 
took  a  little  stool,  set  it  down  near  the  gate,  and  sat 
there  in  the  shade,  when  he  had  nothing  else  to  do. 
The  king  sometimes  saw  him  seated  there,  but  he  was 
a  kind  king,  and  he  did  not  send  the  old  man  away. 

King  Ahasuerus  had  many  soldiers  in  his  palace; 
many  officers  were  in  the  rooms  to  be  companions  for 

142 


THE  STORY  OF  PURIM 


the  king;  he  had  many  men  and  women  to  do  every¬ 
thing  for  him,  but  he  was  not  happy.  He  had  one 
friend,  Prince  Haman,  who  was  always  with  him,  but 
the  king  was  lonesome.  He  wanted  to  get  married,  and 
he  did  not  know  any  girl  he  wished  to  marry.  That 
made  him  sad.  One  day,  the  king  and  one  of  his 
princes  were  talking  together  about  it,  and  the  prince 
said: 

“If  you  do  not  know  any  nice  young  girls,  I  will  tell 
you  how  to  find  some.  There  are  many  pretty  girls  in 
this  big  country  that  belongs  to  you.  All  you  will  have 
to  do,  is  to  send  some  officers  to  every  town  to  find  the 
girls,  and  bring  them  to  Shushan,  to  the  palace.” 

The  king  liked  this  plan  and  he  sent  officers  to  pick 
out  the  pretty  girls.  The  officers  told  the  girls  the  king 
wanted  a  wife.  The  girls  were  glad  to  go  to  Shushan, 
because  every  one  of  them  wished  she  could  be  the  wife 
of  King  Ahasuerus. 

As  one  of  the  officers  was  going  out  through  the  gate, 
he  saw  Mordecai  and  stopped  to  speak  to  him.  Mor- 
decai  asked  the  officer  where  he  was  going,  and  he  an¬ 
swered  : 

“The  king  sent  me  to  bring  some  pretty  girls  to  the 

M3 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


palace.  He  wants  to  get  married  and  he  does  not  know 
any  girls.  Do  you  know  any  who  are  pretty  and  sweet 
and  good  and  kind?” 

Mordecai  said:  “I  do  not  know  many  girls,  but  I 
know  one  who  is  kind  and  good  to  everybody.” 

“Who  is  that  girl?  Does  she  live  near  or  far  away?” 
asked  the  officer. 

“Her  name  is  Esther,”  said  Mordecai.  “She  lives 
near,  and  if  you  would  like  to  see  her,  I  will  take  you 
to  her  home.” 

The  officer  said  he  would  go,  and  Mordecai  took 
him  to  his  own  house.  Esther  had  on  a  very  simple 
cotton  dress,  but  it  was  neat  and  clean.  When  she  saw 
the  officer  come  into  the  room  with  Mordecai,  she  said, 
with  a  very  pleasant  smile: 

“Good  morning!  Won’t  you  please  take  a  seat?” 

The  officer  smiled  back  at  her  and  said  he  had  no 
time,  but  he  promised  to  come  again.  As  he  went  out 
of  the  room,  he  said  to  Mordecai: 

“I  like  Esther,  because  she  is  sweet  and  polite.  Esther 
must  go  to  the  palace  on  the  day  when  all  the  other 
girls  will  be  there.  I  will  come  and  get  her.” 

The  officer  left,  and  Mordecai  said  to  himself: 

144 


THE  STORY  OF  PURIM 


“I  hope  the  king  will  like  my  Esther,  and  I  hope  he 
will  marry  her.  When  she  is  a  queen  she  can  do  many 
things  to  help  the  Jews.” 

Every  girl  in  Persia  hoped  the  king  would  like  her, 
just  her  alone,  and  make  her  his  queen.  I  mean  all  the 
girls  except  Esther,  because  she  did  not  know  anything 
at  all  about  it.  At  last  it  became  known,  that  on  a  cer¬ 
tain  day,  all  the  girls  would  be  in  the  palace.  Then 
Mordecai  told  Esther  she  was  to  go,  too.  Esther  was 
bashful,  and  said  to  Mordecai: 

“Why  should  I  go?  I  don’t  think  the  king  will  like 
me.  A  king  wants  a  tall,  splendid  girl  for  his  wife,  a 
girl  who  has  fine  clothes  and  a  girl  who  is  pretty.” 

“Do  you  think  so?”  said  Mordecai. 

‘“Yes  I  do.  I  am  small,  and  I  am  not  pretty,  and 
I  have  no  fine  clothes.” 

“Esther,  my  child,  all  that  does  not  count.  If  you 
are  small,  you  will  grow;  never  mind  about  being 
pretty,  because  maybe  the  king  will  think  you  are  pretty; 
and  the  king  will  not  care  anything  about  your  clothes, 
if  you  look  neat  and  clean.” 

“But  I  am  afraid  to  go  to  the  palace  alone,”  said 
Esther. 


145 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


“Do  not  be  afraid,  Esther,  for  no  one  will  harm  you.” 

At  last,  when  the  great  day  came,  Esther  was  taken 
into  the  grand  ballroom  in  the  palace.  There  were, 
oh!  so  many  girls  there,  and  Esther  was  told  to  stand 
near  a  window,  where  the  king  could  see  her  as  soon 
as  he  entered  the  room.  Esther  had  on  a  cheap  little 
white  dress.  It  was  the  best  she  had,  but  there  was 
no  trimming  on  it.  Her  long  braids  were  tied  with  a 
small  blue  ribbon.  Her  cheeks  were  rosy  red,  her  eyes 
shone  brightly,  and  when  she  smiled  at  the  other  girls 
they  saw  her  pretty  white  teeth. 

Esther  saw  the  lovely  dresses  the  other  girls  wore, 
but  do  you  think  she  wished  she  was  dressed  like  they 
were?  Indeed  not.  Esther  did  not  worry  about  what 
kind  of  clothes  she  had.  But  she  liked  to  see  pretty 
clothes,  just  as  every  one  else  does,  and  she  was  happy 
to  look  at  the  handsome  silk  dresses  and  the  fine  lace 
dresses,  and  the  chains  and  bracelets  and  earrings  the 
other  girls  had.  Maybe  those  girls  wondered  how  it 
happened  that  a  girl  who  wore  such  cheap  clothes  could 
have  been  invited  to  the  palace,  and  they  thought: 

“The  king  will  not  look  at  such  a  poor  girl/’  But 
they  were  mistaken. 


T46 


ESTHER,  BEFORE  THE  KING 


THE  STORY  OF  PURIM 


The  wide  doors  were  thrown  open  by  two  soldiers. 
Several  officers,  dressed  in  their  gay  uniforms,  marched 
in,  two  by  two,  and  then  came  the  king.  He  was  fol¬ 
lowed  by  Haman  and  many  more  officers.  The  king 
was  tall  and  fine  looking.  He  wore  an  elegant  cloak, 
embroidered  with  gold  and  jewels,  over  his  uniform. 
His  golden  crown  was  on  his  head  and  he  carried  a 
golden  scepter  in  his  hand. 

Everybody  in  the  room  bowed  low,  when  the  king 
walked  to  his  golden  throne  and  sat  down  on  one  of  the 
velvet  throne  chairs.  The  other  chair  remained  empty. 
The  king  glanced  around  the  room  and  looked  at  every 
girl  carefully,  but  he  did  not  see  any  one  he  liked. 
Then  he  looked  at  Esther,  standing  so  bashfully  by  the 
window,  and  said  to  Haman,  who  stood  beside  him: 

“Who  is  that  lovely  girl  with  the  long  braids  of  hair? 
I  mean  the  one  in  that  plain  white  dress.** 

“Her  name  is  Esther,”  said  Haman.  That  is  all  I 
know  about  her.  But  does  your  majesty  really  wish 
to  marry  her?” 

“I  certainly  do,**  said  the  king.-  “She  is  the  only  girl 
in  the  room  that  I  like,  and  I  want  her  for  my  wife  and 
my  queen.’* 


147 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


Think  of  that,  children!  The  great  and  powerful 
king  did  not  care  for  any  one  of  the  rich  and  beautiful 
girls  he  saw,  and  the  only  girl  he  liked  was  Esther. 
Then  the  king  married  her  and  he  gave  her  handsome 
clothes  to  wear,  and  put  a  golden  crown  on  her  head. 
He  said  she  was  his  queen  and  placed  her  next  to  him 
in  the  other  chair  on  the  throne.  Then  he  gave  a  feast 
and  invited  nearly  all  the  people  in  Shushan ;  and  there 
was  joy  in  the  land. 

One  day,  Haman  asked  the  king  to  give  an  order 
telling  every  one  to  bow  down  to  Haman,  whenever 
they  saw  him.  Mordecai  said  he  would  not  bow  to 
any  one  but  God.  When  Haman  heard  what  Mor¬ 
decai  said,  he  was  very  angry  and  said  he  would  pun¬ 
ish  Mordecai.  Haman  hated  the  Jews  and  he  made 
up  his  mind  to  kill  all  those  in  Persia.  He  went  to 
the  king  and  told  him  Mordecai  was  a  Jew  and  said: 

“The  J  ews  are  not  good  people.  They  do  not  pray 
to  our  gods  and  their  laws  are  not  like  our  laws.  It 
is  not  good  for  you  to  have  such  people  in  your  land.” 

The  king  said:  “If  you  tell  me  the  Jews  are  not 
good  people,  of  course  I  believe  you ;  and  I  will  allow 
you  to  do  anything  you  like  to  them.” 

148 


THE  STORY  OF  PURIM 


Then  that  wicked  Haman  sent  officers  to  every  gov¬ 
ernor,  in  every  state,  with  the  order  from  the  king  that 
on  the  thirteenth  day  of  Adar  (Adar  is  a  month  in  the 
early  spring)  every  Jew  was  to  be  killed.  Wasn’t 
that  terrible? 

When  Mordecai  heard  this,  he  sat  by  the  gate  of 
the  palace  and  cried  out  loud,  and  Esther  heard  him. 
She  sent  one  of  the  soldiers  to  ask  what  was  the  mat¬ 
ter.  Mordecai  told  the  soldier  what  Haman  had  done 
and  said: 

“Go  back  and  tell  Esther  all  about  it.  Tell  her 
she  must  go  to  the  king,  and  beg  him  to  save  her 
people  from  being  killed.” 

When  the  soldier  told  Esther  she  said  she  could  only 
go  to  the  king  when  the  king  sent  for  her.  When 
the  soldier  told  Mordecai  that,  the  old  man  said: 

“Go  again  to  Esther,  and  tell  her  she  must  go  to 
the  king.  If  she  does  not  go,  she  will  be  killed  the 
same  day  as  the  other  Jews.” 

When  Esther  heard  this,  she  dressed  herself  in  her 
best  dress  and  put  the  golden  crown  on  her  head.  She 
looked  very  beautiful,  but  she  was  afraid  to  go  to  the 
king,  because  he  had  not  sent  for  her.  She  stood  out- 

149 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


side  the  door  of  the  king’s  room  and  she  began  to  trem¬ 
ble  and  cry.  Then  she  said  to  herself: 

It  will  not  do  any  good  to  cry.  That  will  not  help 
any  one.  I  will  not  cry  and  I  will  try  to  be  brave.  I 
will  pray  to  God,  and  ask  Him  to  make  the  king  kind  to 
me,  and  let  me  help  my  people.”  So  Esther  said  a 
little  prayer  and  begged  God  to  help  her,  and  when 
she  had  finished  her  prayers  she  was  not  afraid  any 
more,  and  she  went  to  the  king.  When  he  saw  her, 
he  smiled  at  her  and  held  out  his  golden  scepter.  She 
smiled  then,  because  she  knew  that  was  a  sign  that  the 
king  was  glad  to  see  her.  The  king  asked  her  what 
she  wanted  of  him,  and  Esther  said: 

“I  have  been  told  that  on  a  certain  day,  the  king’s 
soldiers  are  going  to  kill  all  the  Jews  in  Persia.” 

“That  is  true,”  said  the  king.  I  gave  the  order  to 
Haman.  Tell  me,  Esther,  why  do  you  ask?” 

“Because  the  Jews  are  my  people  and  Mordecai  is 
my  cousin,”  said  Esther.  “I  am  a  Jewish  girl,  and  if 
all  the  Jews  are  to  be  killed,  I  will  be  killed.” 

Then  the  king  was  sorry  he  had  given  such  an  order. 
He  loved  Esther  and  he  did  not  want  her  to  be  killed* 
He  asked  her  what  he  could  do  and  she  said: 

150 


THE  STORY  OF  PURIM 


“Please  give  another  order  to  your  soldiers.  Tell 
them  they  must  not  kill  or  hurt  any  Jews.” 

The  king  said:  “A  king  in  Persia,  cannot  change 
any  order  he  has  given.  I  cannot  change  it,  but  I  will 
do  something  else.  Go  to  your  cousin  Mordecai.  Tell 
him  on  the  day  when  my  soldiers  will  try  to  kill  the 
Jews,  they  should  fight  the  soldiers.  I  will  order  the 
soldiers  to  let  the  Jews  fight  them,  and  your  people 
will  be  saved.” 

Esther  thanked  the  king,  and  said: 

“Prince  Haman  says  he  will  hang  my  cousin  on  a 
gallows  he  has  just  had  made.” 

The  king  looked  at  Haman  who  was  in  the  room, 
and  said  angrily: 

“I,  the  king,  have  been  very  kind  to  you,  because 
I  thought  you  were  good,  but  now,  I  think  you  are  a 
very  wicked  man.  First  you  tell  me  to  give  an  order 
to  kill  all  the  Jews,  and  then  you  build  a  gallows  on 
which  to  hang  Mordecai.  The  Jews  never  did  you 
any  harm,  yet  you  want  to  kill  them  all.  You  shall 
be  punished.” 

Haman  was  frightened  when  he  heard  the  king  call 
for  two  officers.  They  came  into  the  room  at  once, 

151 


THE  JEWISH  CHILD’S  BIBLE  STORIES 


and  the  king  said:  “I  have  found  out  that  Haman  is  a 
very  wicked  man.  T ake  him  away  and  put  him  in  prison. 
Tomorrow  morning  let  the  soldiers  hang  him  on  the 
same  gallows  he  had  built  for  Mordecai.” 

Haman  fell  on  his  knees  before  the  king.  He  cried 
and  begged  the  king  to  let  him  live. 

“No,”  said  the  king.  “You  would  not  have  saved 
the  life  of  even  one  Jew,  and  I  will  not  let  you  live. 
Soldiers,  take  him  away.” 

Thus  was  Haman  punished.  When  the  day  came 
when  the  Jews  thought  Haman  was  going  to  have  themi 
killed,  the  soldiers  only  “made  believe”  they  were 
fighting,  and  not  one  Jew  was  killed. 

The  Jews  were  so  happy,  they  arranged  a  big  feast 
and  they  called  it  Purim.  They  were  so  thankful, 
that  they  gave  presents  of  food,  and  clothing,  and 
money,  to  all  the  poor  men  and  women  and  children 
in  the  land.  All  this  happened  long  ago,  but  each 
year  the  Jews  remember  Purim,  and  give  presents  of 
all  kinds  to  any  poor  persons  they  know. 


152 


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GAYLORD 

PRINTED  IN  U  S  A. 

